Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale. The amortized costs and fair values follow:

	September 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
	Amortized costs	Fair values	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	72,725	75,421	70,300	72,008
Corporate	341,005	358,164	303,870	309,461
Foreign	156,444	162,798	149,914	153,221
U.S. Treasury Bonds	12,793	12,883	13,803	13,906
Equity securities	29,854	34,425	27,497	31,253
	612,821	643,691	565,384	579,849

Foreign debt securities consist primarily of Canadian government and corporate bonds, United Kingdom treasury bonds, and Mexican government bonds. Equity securities consist of common stocks and master limited partnerships.

Gross unrealized gains and losses were:

	September 30, 2016		December 31, 2015
	Gains	Losses	Gains	Losses
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	2,745	49	1,720	12
Corporate	17,241	82	7,700	2,109
Foreign	6,395	41	3,789	482
U.S. Treasury Bonds	90	—	128	25
Equity securities	5,462	891	4,842	1,086
	31,933	1,063	18,179	3,714

Debt securities as of September 30, 2016 mature, according to their contractual terms, as follows (actual maturities may differ due to call or prepayment rights):

	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
In one year or less	45,531	45,904
After one year through five years	233,813	243,355
After five years through ten years	223,019	233,147
After ten years	80,604	86,860
	582,967	609,266

Gross unrealized losses on investments and the fair values of the related securities, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at September 30, 2016, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	49	5,544	—	—	49	5,544
Corporate	82	12,415	—	—	82	12,415
Foreign	28	15,045	13	1,574	41	16,619
Equity securities	578	7,080	313	2,294	891	9,374
	737	40,084	326	3,868	1,063	43,952

The number of investment securities in an unrealized loss position as of September 30, 2016 was 58, 8 securities of which were in unrealized loss positions for more than 12 months. Since the Company does not intend to sell and will more-likely-than-not maintain each investment security until its maturity or anticipated recovery, and no significant credit risk is deemed to exist, these investments are not considered other-than-temporarily impaired.

Gross unrealized losses on investments and the fair values of the related securities, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position at December 31, 2015, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	9	2,230	3	1,615	12	3,845
Corporate	1,461	83,565	648	32,871	2,109	116,436
Foreign	322	35,008	160	3,155	482	38,163
U.S. Treasury Bonds	6	1,195	19	3,583	25	4,778
Equity securities	720	4,440	366	3,224	1,086	7,664
	2,518	126,438	1,196	44,448	3,714	170,886

The Company believes its investment portfolio is diversified and expects no material loss to result from the failure to perform by issuers of the debt securities it holds. Investments made by the Company are not collateralized.