UPDATE: Gilford Securities Upgrades Homeowners Choice to Buy, Raises PT

In a report published Friday, Gilford Securities upgraded its rating on Homeowners Choice HCII from Hold to Buy, and raised its price target to $25.00. Gilford noted, “The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has reported that Homeowners Choice (HCII) has been approved for a 75k policy takedown from Citizens Property Insurance Corp.1 We estimate that this adds approximately $100MM in incremental revenues, although this number will erode over time as HCII manages down the policies to the universe they would like to retain. As an example, at 2011 year end after the Homewise acquisition HCII reported having 125,000 policies. In last night's presentation at the gateway Conference in San Francisco HCII reported having 110,000 policies. Clearly managing the policy count down to the most attractive and profitable policies is a strategy of HCII.” Homeowners Choice closed on Thursday at $20.70.