Hartford Financial gets halved

The battered insurer's stock plunged 51.6% Thursday as Wall Street worries that it may need more capital to make it through the credit crisis.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Beleaguered insurer Hartford Financial Services Group lost more than half of market value Thursday as investors fear that the company may need to raise capital and could have trouble doing so.

Shares plunged 51.6% Thursday to close at $9.62 per share, a new 52-week low. The stock is trading 90% lower than year ago levels.

Hartford (HIG, Fortune 500) reported a third-quarter loss of $1.40 per share Wednesday -- actually not as bad as the $1.54 per share loss expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters.

But analysts said the stock nosedived Thursday because Hartford management was unable to give Wall Street a straight answer about how much capital it might need to endure the credit crisis.