Thursday's Financial Winners & Losers

Updated from 2:49 p.m. EDT

The financial sector was slightly lower in choppy trading Thursday, with Franklin Bank (FBTX Quote) coming in as one of the biggest-percentage losers among financial stocks.

The Houston-based savings bank was down 5.5% to $15.70 after offering $100 million in contingent convertible senior bonds under its existing shelf registration. Proceeds will pay for a portion of Franklin's $134 million buyout of Texas-based First National Bank of Bryan, a deal announced in December.

Mortgage insurer MGIC Investment (MTG Quote) traded heavily after first-quarter earnings plummeted from last year and widely missed Wall Street estimates. The Milwaukee-based insurer traded actively, closing down 14 cents at $56.99.

Also turning in lower-than-expected first-quarter profits were Independent Bank (INDB Quote) of Rockland, Mass., and Oregon's Cascade Bancorp (CACB Quote). Independent was off 2.9% to $31.49; Cascade slipped 4% to $23.58.

On the winning side, both Chicago Board of Trade (BOT Quote) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Quote) were higher after BMO Capital Markets expressed belief that CME remains CBOT's preferred buyer vs. IntercontinentalExchange's (ICE Quote) rival bid.

BMO started coverage on CBOT with an underperform rating, citing valuation, but shares still added $1.77 earlier in the day and closed up 43 cents at $189.36. CME closed slightly higher and ICE closed slightly lower, both on outperform ratings.

Among other stocks lifted by positive analyst calls, Arkansas-based Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK Quote) gained 4.4% to $29.15 on a Cohen Bros. upgrade to buy from hold, and E*Trade (ETFC Quote) rose 2.1% to $21.95 after Deutsche Bank gave the online broker a new buy rating.