Investments in debt and equity securities available-for-sale

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

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:

	March 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
	Amortized costs	Fair values	Amortized costs	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	72,236	72,918	72,284	72,432
Corporate	334,887	341,283	338,365	343,047
Foreign	190,366	192,663	165,735	167,027
U.S. Treasury Bonds	12,795	12,635	12,795	12,613
Equity securities	30,616	36,700	30,255	36,384
	640,900	656,199	619,434	631,503

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 partnership interests.

Gross unrealized gains and losses were:

	March 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
	Gains	Losses	Gains	Losses
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	1,111	429	723	575
Corporate	7,612	1,216	6,871	2,189
Foreign	3,414	1,117	2,912	1,620
U.S. Treasury Bonds	5	165	4	186
Equity securities	6,902	818	6,800	671
	19,044	3,745	17,310	5,241

Debt securities as of March 31, 2017 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	41,967	42,258
After one year through five years	260,428	266,216
After five years through ten years	230,514	232,252
After ten years	77,375	78,773
	610,284	619,499

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 March 31, 2017, were:

	Less than 12 months		More than 12 months		Total
	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values	Losses	Fair values
	($000 omitted)
Debt securities:
Municipal	429	12,503	—	—	429	12,503
Corporate	1,216	98,998	—	—	1,216	98,998
Foreign	1,095	72,071	22	1,550	1,117	73,621
U.S. Treasury Bonds	165	11,867	—	—	165	11,867
Equity securities	592	8,413	226	1,473	818	9,886
	3,497	203,852	248	3,023	3,745	206,875

The number of investment securities in an unrealized loss position as of March 31, 2017 was 164, 10 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, 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	575	32,038	—	—	575	32,038
Corporate	2,189	119,965	—	—	2,189	119,965
Foreign	1,427	70,012	193	3,160	1,620	73,172
U.S. Treasury Bonds	186	11,847	—	—	186	11,847
Equity securities	424	5,950	247	2,250	671	8,200
	4,801	239,812	440	5,410	5,241	245,222

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.