Hallmark Financial Services Inc. HALL delivered net earnings of 21 cents per share in the first quarter of 2016 that missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 28 cents and also declined 25% year over year. The decline stemmed from lower net written premiums. Hallmark Financial Services Inc. (HALL) Street EPS & Surprise Percent - Last 5 Quarters | FindTheCompany Behind the Headlines Hallmark Financial generated total revenue of $88 million, down 2.2% year over year, due to lower premiums earned. Revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $93 million by 5.2 %. Total expenses of Hallmark Financial inched up 0.3% year over year to $84 million due to higher operating expenses. Net loss ratio deteriorated by 100 basis points (bps) to 65.7% from 64.7% in the prior-year quarter. Combined ratio of Hallmark Financial was 95.3% as against 93.2% in the year-ago quarter. This marks a deterioration of 210 bps. Segment Update Standard Commercial: Total revenues came in at $18 million, down 11.8% year over year, due to lower net premiums written and adverse change in unearned premiums. Pre-tax income declined 24.9% to $1.4 million in the quarter. Combined ratio deteriorated 520 bps to 100.7%. Specialty Commercial: Total revenues dipped 2.8% year over year to $60.6 million due to the exit of the workers compensation business last year, which resulted in lower gross premiums. Pre-tax income inched up6.2% year over year to $10.3 million in the quarter. Combined ratio remained unchanged at 87.8%. Personal Segment: Total revenues surged 39% year over year to $12.1 million in the quarter due to higher net premiums earned. Pre-tax loss came in at $1.1 million, wider than a loss of $0.3 million incurred in the year-ago quarter. Deterioration in non-standard automobile business and significantly higher expenses resulted in the wider loss. Combined ratio deteriorated by 630 bps to 114.2%. Corporate: Total revenues reported were ($637) million compared with $159 million in the year-ago quarter. Pre-tax loss of $4.7 million was wider than $3.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Financial Details Hallmark Financial exited the quarter with total investments of $614.1 million, up 6% from year-end 2015. Cash and cash equivalents declined 23.5% to $87.5 million in the quarter. Cash from used in operations of Hallmark Financial was $1.3 million in the reported quarter compared with cash flow from operations of $3.7 million a year ago. Hallmark Financial’s book value per share was $14.00 as of Mar 31, 2016, up 3% year over year. Zacks Rank and Other Insurance stocks Hallmark Financial sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The bottom line at RLI Corp RLI, The Allstate Corporation ALL and Aflac AFL outperformed their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate in the first quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AFLAC INC (AFL): Free Stock Analysis Report RLI CORP (RLI): Free Stock Analysis Report ALLSTATE CORP (ALL): Free Stock Analysis Report HALLMARK FINL (HALL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research