UPDATE 1-Harleysville Group Q4 net profit plunges 82 pct

* Q4 shr $0.16 vs $0.82 a year ago

* Q4 oper shr $0.87 vs estimate of $0.82

* Premiums earned rose 9 pct to $228.9 million

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Property and casualty insurer Harleysville Group Inc (HGIC.O) posted an 82 percent plunge in quarterly net profit, hit by wider realized investment losses.

However, operating profit, which excludes realized gains and losses on investments, beat analysts' average estimate by 5 cents as it benefitted from the rise in earned premiums.

For the fourth quarter, the company's net profit was $4.6 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with $25.1 million, or 82 cents a share, a year earlier.

Realized investment losses widened to $30.8 million from a loss of $462,000 a year ago.

Harleysville's combined ratio, which is the percentage of premiums an insurer has to pay out in claims and expenses, was 98.5 percent in the second quarter, compared with 96.4 percent a year ago. A lower combined ratio is better.

Investment income for the quarter rose 4 percent to $20.9 million, the company said.

Shares of the company closed at $29.18 Thursday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Anurag Kotoky in Bangalore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)