Piper Jaffray maintained a Neutral rating on Torchmark (NYSE: TMK), and cut the price target to $57.00 (from $58.00), following the company's 4Q earnings report. TMK reported 4Q EPS of $1.05, a penny below consensus. Upside from Life and Health offset the lack of Part D. Management determined that the Part D business met the criteria to be held for sale and is now reported in Disc Ops. TMK raised its 2016 guidance nearly 1% at the mid-point.

Analyst John Nadel commented, "EPS of $1.05 was in line with us and a penny shy of consensus as upside from Life & Health underwriting margins offset the move of Part D to discontinued operations. Mgmt raised its 2016 guidance nearly 1% at the mid-point (adjusting for Part D). Despite better Life & Health margins, we expect focus will be on 1) QoQ decline in agent counts in American Income & Liberty; 2) YoY decline in Life sales at Direct Response (which caused total company Life sales to slow to 2.4% YoY vs. recent HSD/LDD pace); and 3) ongoing margin deterioration at Direct Response. Given the premium valuation of 11x our 2017E EPS and 1.75x 4Q15 BVPS excl. AOCI, we remain Neutral. Moreover, given recent Japanese-domiciled financial services/insurance company stock reactions to BoJ rate actions, we believe probability of TMK being taken out (similar to recent deals for PL, SFG, SYA) has declined materially."

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Shares of Torchmark closed at $52.24 yesterday.