FBL Financial Group Shares Surged: What You Need to Know (FFG)

FBL Financial Group Shares Surged: What You Need to Know

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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of life insurance provider FBL Financial Group (NYSE: FFG ) jumped as much as 12.2% in a very short-lived, low-volume rally overnight.

So what: Yesterday, FBL Financial announced that Chairman Craig Lang has resigned from the board, replaced by Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President Craig Hill. The double-digit spike was very, very brief, but share prices retreated to a still-respectable 2% gain on an otherwise very gloomy market morning.

Now what: So it's a tale of two Craigs. Hill has been on FBL's board since 2007, but stepped into the FBL sphere of operations way back in 1989 -- yes, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is closely tied to FBL Group. Lang lost some board support by pushing unpopular policies as a member of the Iowa Board of Regents in recent years; investors seem happy about the switch.

If you're into FBL for the sake of its modest dividend, this leadership change won't make a difference. You might want to consider more generous payers in the regional life insurance sector, such as Symetra Financial (NYSE: SYA ) or Protective Life (NYSE: PL ) , though.

Interested in more info about FBL Financial Group? Click here to add it to My Watchlist.

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Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinion, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Check out Anders' holdings and bio, or follow him on Twitter and Google+. We have a disclosure policy.

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