FBL Financial Group Shares Surged: What You Need to Know

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 (NYS: 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 (NYS: SYA) or Protective Life (NYS: PL) , though.

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

At the time thisarticle was published 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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.