Piper Sandler Downgrades Old Republic International (ORI) to Neutral, Price Target Cut to $38
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 1h ago
0mins
Source: seekingalpha
- Rating Downgrade: Piper Sandler downgraded Old Republic International (ORI) from Overweight to Neutral, reflecting the insurer's ongoing struggles with commercial auto loss cost inflation, with analyst Paul Newsome advising investors to avoid companies with loss reserve or trend issues.
- Earnings Forecast Adjustment: In its Q4 earnings release, Old Republic reported a ~3 percentage point increase in the 2025 commercial auto initial accident-year loss ratio due to rising loss trends in the liability portion of long-haul trucking case reserves, leading to a 12 percentage point increase in the Q4 loss ratio, indicating potential financial strain.
- Price Target Cut: Piper trimmed its price target for ORI from $51 to $38, reflecting diminished optimism about its specialty underwriting segment and suggesting that the company may face operational challenges in a softening market.
- Market Reaction: Old Republic's stock slid 11% in Thursday midday trading, diverging from the average Wall Street Buy rating, highlighting investor concerns regarding the company's future profitability.
Analyst Views on ORI
Wall Street analysts forecast ORI stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ORI is 49.00 USD with a low forecast of 47.00 USD and a high forecast of 51.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
2 Analyst Rating
2 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 43.120
Low
47.00
Averages
49.00
High
51.00
Current: 43.120
Low
47.00
Averages
49.00
High
51.00
About ORI
Old Republic International Corporation is a specialty insurer that operates diverse property and casualty and title insurance companies. It is a holding company engaged in the single business of insurance underwriting and related services. Its Specialty Insurance segment is characterized as a commercial line’s insurance business with a focus on lines of coverages provided to businesses, state and local governments, and other institutions. The segment has major insurance coverages, including accident and health, aviation, commercial auto, commercial multi-peril (CMP), commercial property, financial indemnity, and home and auto warranty, among others. The Title Insurance segment consists primarily of the issuance of policies to real estate purchasers and investors based upon searches of the public records that contain information concerning interests in real property. The two basic types of title insurance policies issued by the Company are lenders' policies and owners' policies.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
