With its Los Angeles-based life insurance operations...

With its Los Angeles-based life insurance operations posting their “best quarter ever,” Transamerica Corp. reported an 8.4% increase in second-quarter earnings, a performance that at one point pushed the company’s stock to an all-time high Thursday.

The San Francisco-based insurance and finance company reported that earnings, excluding proceeds from securities sales, rose to $111.2 million, or $1.54 a share, from $102.6 million, or $1.30 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The per-share results exceeded the $1.42 average estimate from 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Including investment gains, the company’s net income rose 18% to $117.8 million, or $1.63 a share, from $105.7 million, or $1.34 a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion.

Transamerica shares closed unchanged at $61.875, after reaching a record $63.75 earlier in the day following the earnings announcement.

“It’s a mixed bag,” said Ira L. Zuckerman, an analyst for SBS Financial Group Inc. “Life insurance has been strong and real estate has been weak. The latter isn’t surprising considering what’s happening in the housing market. Consumer financing continues to suffer a little, and the other stuff is OK.”

The company said its life insurance operations had their best quarter in history, with operating income jumping 20% to $71.3 million from $59.3 million. Transamerica also reported strong gains from assets purchased during the past year.