Friday's Financial Winners & Losers

The financial sector was relatively quiet Friday and mostly trailed the rest of the flat-lining market, but Nelnet (NNI Quote), in particular, managed to eke out a 7% climb.

The Nebraska-based student lender said first-quarter non-GAAP income, at 54 cents a share, pulled back a nickel from last year but was also a nickel past projections, per Thomson Financial. Shares were up $1.83 to $27.48.

Delaware-based WSFS Financial (WSFS Quote) also did well after the bank's first-quarter per-share earnings added 9 cents from last year to $1.15, or $7.9 million, easily topping analysts' $1.08 estimates. Shares were rising $3.33, or 5.2%, to $67.76.

Hartford Financial Services (HIG Quote), based in Connecticut, comfortably beat Street targets after pocketing first-quarter profits of $2.61 a share. The insurer also lifted 2007 guidance to range between $9.60 and $9.90, which leans to the higher end of consensus. Shares gained $2.09, or 2.1%, to $102.75. Elsewhere, credit card company MasterCard (MA Quote) jumped 4.5% to $113.41 in fairly heavy trading.

Nevertheless, the NYSE Financial Sector Index -- of which Nelnet, Hartford and MasterCard are components -- was off 0.3% to 9794.19.

Helping along in that regard was First Marblehead (FMD Quote), which, after dropping after the market close Thursday due to a fiscal third-quarter profit miss, was distracted upward by a JPMorgan upgrade this morning before tumbling back down. Lately, shares were losing 1.5% to $37.12.