Investments

9 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

3. Investments

Expected maturities may differ from contractual maturities as borrowers may have the right to call or prepay obligations with or without call or prepayment penalties.

We deposit bonds with insurance regulatory authorities to meet statutory requirements. The adjusted cost of bonds on deposit with insurance regulatory authorities was $16.2 million and $16.3 million at December 31, 2014 and March 31, 2014, respectively.

Available-for-Sale Investments

Available-for-sale investments at December 31, 2014 were as follows:

		Amortized Cost		Gross Unrealized Gains		Gross Unrealized Losses More than 12 Months		Gross Unrealized Losses Less than 12 Months		Estimated Market Value
		(Unaudited)
		(In thousands)
U.S. treasury securities and government obligations	$	98,725	$	3,869	$	(211	)$	(98	)$	102,285
U.S. government agency mortgage-backed securities		31,868		2,636		(132	)	(11	)	34,361
Obligations of states and political subdivisions		164,739		10,440		(736	)	(79	)	174,364
Corporate securities		887,790		41,460		(4,559	)	(1,623	)	923,068
Mortgage-backed securities		20,628		465		(67	)	-		21,026
Redeemable preferred stocks		16,450		494		(415	)	(4	)	16,525
Common stocks		17,975		4,995		-		(31	)	22,939
	$	1,238,175	$	64,359	$	(6,120	)$	(1,846	)$	1,294,568

Available-for-sale investments at March 31, 2014 were as follows:

		Amortized Cost		Gross Unrealized Gains		Gross Unrealized Losses More than 12 Months		Gross Unrealized Losses Less than 12 Months		Estimated Market Value
		(Unaudited)
		(In thousands)
U.S. treasury securities and government obligations	$	49,883	$	1,475	$	-	$	(1,004	)$	50,354
U.S. government agency mortgage-backed securities		36,258		2,558		(4	)	(425	)	38,387
Obligations of states and political subdivisions		166,311		4,834		(308	)	(3,627	)	167,210
Corporate securities		834,923		26,075		(3,794	)	(25,875	)	831,329
Mortgage-backed securities		12,425		279		(3	)	(514	)	12,187
Redeemable preferred stocks		18,445		283		(82	)	(1,113	)	17,533
Common stocks		17,299		3,987		(1	)	(10	)	21,275
	$	1,135,544	$	39,491	$	(4,192	)$	(32,568	)$	1,138,275

The tables above include gross unrealized losses that are not deemed to be other-than-temporarily impaired, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position.

We sold available-for-sale securities with a fair value of $76.1 million during the first nine months of fiscal 2015. The gross realized gains on these sales totaled $3.6 million. The gross realized losses on these sales totaled $0.4 million.

The unrealized losses of more than twelve months in the available-for-sale table are considered temporary declines. We track each investment with an unrealized loss and evaluate them on an individual basis for other-than-temporary impairments including obtaining corroborating opinions from third party sources, performing trend analysis and reviewing management's future plans. Certain of these investments may have declines determined by management to be other-than-temporary and we recognized these write-downs through earnings. There were no write downs in the third quarter or for the first nine months of fiscal 2015 and 2014.

The investment portfolio primarily consists of corporate securities and U.S. government securities. We believe we monitor our investments as appropriate. Our methodology of assessing other-than-temporary impairments is based on security-specific analysis as of the balance sheet date and considers various factors including the length of time to maturity, the extent to which the fair value has been less than the cost, the financial condition and the near-term prospects of the issuer, and whether the debtor is current on its contractually obligated interest and principal payments. Nothing has come to management's attention that would lead to the belief that each issuer would not have the ability to meet the remaining contractual obligations of the security, including payment at maturity. We have the ability and intent not to sell our fixed maturity and common stock investments for a period of time sufficient to allow us to recover our costs.

The portion of other-than-temporary impairment related to a credit loss is recognized in earnings. The significant inputs utilized in the evaluation of mortgage backed securities credit losses include ratings, delinquency rates, and prepayment activity. The significant inputs utilized in the evaluation of asset backed securities credit losses include the time frame for principal recovery and the subordination and value of the underlying collateral.

There were no credit losses recognized in earnings for which a portion of an other-than-temporary impairment was recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2015.

The adjusted cost and estimated market value of available-for-sale investments at December 31, 2014, by contractual maturity, were as follows.

		December 31, 2014				March 31, 2014
		Amortized Cost		Estimated Market Value		Amortized Cost		Estimated Market Value
		(Unaudited)
		(In thousands)
Due in one year or less	$	46,796	$	47,453	$	20,235	$	20,475
Due after one year through five years		226,950		240,425		185,447		194,563
Due after five years through ten years		507,874		527,412		350,048		350,953
Due after ten years		401,502		418,788		531,645		521,289
		1,183,122		1,234,078		1,087,375		1,087,280
Mortgage backed securities		20,628		21,026		12,425		12,187
Redeemable preferred stocks		16,450		16,525		18,445		17,533
Common stocks		17,975		22,939		17,299		21,275
	$	1,238,175	$	1,294,568	$	1,135,544	$	1,138,275