Sterne Agee Maintains Buy, $33 Target on Aspen Insurance Holdings

Sterne Agee reiterates its Buy rating with a $33 target price on Aspen Insurance Holdings AHL as the company beats 4Q11 estimates due to lower tax rates. Sterne Agee notes, "Operating EPS was $0.01 in the quarter. This compares to our estimate at a loss of $0.11 and the Street at a loss of $0.22. The beat versus our estimate was driven largely by a lower tax rate as underwriting income and NII were a bit below our forecasts." AHL closed at $27.61 a share on Monday.