Investments

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

3. Investments

3. Investments

Expected maturities may differ from contractual maturities as borrowers may have the right to call or prepay obligations with or without call or prepayment penalties.

The Company deposits bonds with insurance regulatory authorities to meet statutory requirements. The adjusted cost of bonds on deposit with insurance regulatory authorities was $14.4 million at December 31, 2011.

Available-for-Sale Investments

Available-for-sale investments at December 31, 2011 were as follows:

	Amortized Cost		Gross Unrealized Gains		Gross Unrealized Losses More than 12 Months			Gross Unrealized Losses Less than 12 Months			Estimated Market Value
	(Unaudited)
	(In thousands)
U.S. treasury securities and government obligations	$	27,128	$	2,990	$	(18	)	$	-		$	30,100
U.S. government agency mortgage-backed securities		51,155		5,151		(1	)		(30	)		56,275
Obligations of states and political subdivisions		129,145		8,703		-			(15	)		137,833
Corporate securities		422,704		32,884		(776	)		(1,645	)		453,167
Mortgage-backed securities		12,708		235		(62	)		(62	)		12,819
Redeemable preferred stocks		24,370		903		(1,724	)		(144	)		23,405
Common stocks		27,736		11		(16,304	)		(586	)		10,857
	$	694,946	$	50,877	$	(18,885	)	$	(2,482	)	$	724,456

The table above includes gross unrealized losses that are not deemed to be other-than-temporarily impaired, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position.

The Company sold available-for-sale securities with a fair value of $132.6 million during the first nine months of fiscal 2012. The gross realized gains on these sales totaled $5.8 million. The gross realized losses on these sales totaled $0.1 million.

The unrealized losses of more than twelve months in the available-for-sale table are considered temporary declines. The Company tracks each investment with an unrealized loss and evaluates them on an individual basis for other-than-temporary impairments including obtaining corroborating opinions from third party sources, performing trend analysis and reviewing management's future plans. Certain of these investments may have declines determined by management to be other-than-temporary and the Company recognizes these write-downs through earnings. The Company's insurance subsidiaries recognized $0.1 million in other-than-temporary impairments for the first nine months of fiscal 2012. There were no write downs in the third quarter of fiscal 2012 and 2011 or for the first nine months of fiscal 2011.

The investment portfolio primarily consists of corporate securities and U.S. government securities. The Company believes it monitors its investments as appropriate. The Company's methodology of assessing other-than-temporary impairments is based on security-specific analysis as of the balance sheet date and considers various factors including the length of time to maturity, the extent to which the fair value has been less than the cost, the financial condition and the near-term prospects of the issuer, and whether the debtor is current on its contractually obligated interest and principal payments. Nothing has come to management's attention that would lead to the belief that each issuer would not have the ability to meet the remaining contractual obligations of the security, including payment at maturity. The Company has the ability and intent not to sell its fixed maturity and common stock investments for a period of time sufficient to allow the Company to recover its costs.

The portion of other-than-temporary impairment related to a credit loss is recognized in earnings. The significant inputs utilized in the evaluation of mortgage backed securities credit losses include ratings, delinquency rates, and prepayment activity. The significant inputs utilized in the evaluation of asset backed securities credit losses include the time frame for principal recovery and the subordination and value of the underlying collateral.

Credit losses recognized in earnings for which a portion of an other-than-temporary impairment was recognized in other comprehensive income were as follows:

	Credit Loss
	(Unaudited)
	(In thousands)
Balance at March 31, 2011	$	552
Additions:
Other-than-temporary impairment not previously recognized		-
Balance at December 31, 2011	$	552

The adjusted cost and estimated market value of available-for-sale investments at December 31, 2011, by contractual maturity, were as follows:

	Amortized Cost		Estimated Market Value
	(Unaudited)
	(In thousands)
Due in one year or less	$	41,597	$	42,051
Due after one year through five years		153,462		161,091
Due after five years through ten years		171,083		183,771
Due after ten years		263,990		290,462
		630,132		677,375
Mortgage backed securities		12,708		12,819
Redeemable preferred stocks		24,370		23,405
Equity securities		27,736		10,857
	$	694,946	$	724,456