** Shares of Florida-focused insurers jump premarket after Hurricane Milton makes landfall on Florida's west coast

** Heritage Insurance , Universal Insurance , and American Coastal Insurance up 7.8%, 9.2% and 7.8%, respectively

** Milton made landfall on Wednesday destroying homes and knocking out power to more than 3 mln people

** Citi analyst James Shuck said late Wednesday the best guess for insured losses is now around the $50 bln mark, adding that this is better than feared as Milton avoids Tampa Bay directly

** Prior to its landfall, analysts had expected Milton could lead to losses of up to $100 bln for the global insurance industry, and result in a jump in 2025 reinsurance prices

** Shuck added that the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF) will probably not recover from Milton and ultimately a federal solution will be needed

** FHCF is a state trust fund that reimburses residential property insurance companies a portion of their catastrophic hurricane losses in Florida

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))