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Hartford Insurance GroupC
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2026-08-26
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Earnings documents stored for HIG.

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Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-26

Multi-Line Insurance Stocks Q2 Earnings Review: Hartford (NYSE:HIG) Shines

StockStory
Wrapping up Q2 earnings, we look at the numbers and key takeaways for the multi-line insurance stocks, including Hartford (NYSE:HIG) and its peers. Multi-line insurance companies operate a diversified business model, offering a broad suite of products that span both Property & Casualty (P&C) and Life & Health (L&H) insurance. This diversification allows them to generate revenue from multiple, often uncorrelated, underwriting pools while also earning investment income on their combined float. Interest rates matter for the sector (and make it cyclical), with higher rates allowing insurers to reinvest their fixed-income portfolios at more attractive yields and vice versa. The market environment also matters for P&C operations specifically, with a 'hard market' characterized by pricing increases that outstrip claim costs, resulting in higher profits while a 'soft market' is the opposite. On the other hand, a key headwind is increasing volatility and severity of catastrophe losses, driven by climate change, which poses a significant threat to P&C underwriting results. The 4 multi-line insurance stocks we track reported a slower Q2. As a group, revenues missed analysts’ consensus estimates by 1%. While some multi-line insurance stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 3.3% since the latest earnings results. Recognizable by its iconic stag logo that dates back to 1810, The Hartford (NYSE:HIG) provides property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and investment products to individuals and businesses across the United States. Hartford reported revenues of $7.26 billion, up 8.1% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a mixed quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ book value per share estimates. Hartford pulled off the fastest revenue growth in the group. Still, the market seems discontent with the results. The stock is down 2.2% since reporting and currently trades at $139.06. Read our full report on Hartford here, it’s free. Dating back to when a Civil War veteran created a frost-proof water meter, Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB) provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, reinsurance, and life insurance products to a diverse client base across 54 cou…Read full document

Wrapping up Q2 earnings, we look at the numbers and key takeaways for the multi-line insurance stocks, including Hartford (NYSE:HIG) and its peers. Multi-line insurance companies operate a diversified business model, offering a broad suite of products that span both Property & Casualty (P&C) and Life & Health (L&H) insurance. This diversification allows them to generate revenue from multiple, often uncorrelated, underwriting pools while also earning investment income on their combined float. Interest rates matter for the sector (and make it cyclical), with higher rates allowing insurers to reinvest their fixed-income portfolios at more attractive yields and vice versa. The market environment also matters for P&C operations specifically, with a 'hard market' characterized by pricing increases that outstrip claim costs, resulting in higher profits while a 'soft market' is the opposite. On the other hand, a key headwind is increasing volatility and severity of catastrophe losses, driven by climate change, which poses a significant threat to P&C underwriting results. The 4 multi-line insurance stocks we track reported a slower Q2. As a group, revenues missed analysts’ consensus estimates by 1%. While some multi-line insurance stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 3.3% since the latest earnings results. Recognizable by its iconic stag logo that dates back to 1810, The Hartford (NYSE:HIG) provides property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and investment products to individuals and businesses across the United States. Hartford reported revenues of $7.26 billion, up 8.1% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a mixed quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ book value per share estimates. Hartford pulled off the fastest revenue growth in the group. Still, the market seems discontent with the results. The stock is down 2.2% since reporting and currently trades at $139.06. Read our full report on Hartford here, it’s free. Dating back to when a Civil War veteran created a frost-proof water meter, Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB) provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, reinsurance, and life insurance products to a diverse client base across 54 countries. Chubb reported revenues of $15.77 billion, up 6.5% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.9%. The business performed better than its peers, but it was unfortunately a slower quarter with a significant miss of analysts’ book value per share estimates and a miss of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates. Chubb achieved the biggest analyst estimate beat of the whole group. Although it had a fine quarter compared to its peers, the market seems unhappy with the results as the stock is down 2.3% since reporting. It currently trades at $346.63. Is now the time to buy Chubb? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. With roots dating back to 1919 when it began as a small insurance agency in Shanghai, China, AIG (NYSE:AIG) is a global insurance organization that provides commercial and personal insurance solutions to businesses and individuals across more than 200 countries. AIG reported revenues of $7.11 billion, up 3.9% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 2.3%. It was a softer quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ book value per share estimates and a slight miss of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates. As expected, the stock is down 3.2% since the results and currently trades at $77.39. Read our full analysis of AIG’s results here. Originally known as Unitrin until rebranding in 2011, Kemper (NYSE:KMPR) is an insurance holding company that provides automobile, homeowners, life, and other insurance products to individuals and businesses across the United States. Kemper reported revenues of $1.12 billion, down 9.1% year on year. This result came in 4.9% below analysts’ expectations. It was a slower quarter as it also logged a significant miss of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates and a significant miss of analysts’ book value per share estimates. Kemper had the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is down 5.5% since reporting and currently trades at $27.67. Read our full, actionable report on Kemper here, it’s free. Over the past year, investors have been forced to repeatedly answer the same question: what is the market’s biggest risk? The answer has changed several times, and each shift has reshaped market leadership. Late in 2025 and early 2026, artificial intelligence became the market’s primary uncertainty. Investors questioned whether AI would erode software pricing power and weaken competitive moats as AI made it easier to replicate once-differentiated products. By the spring, technology took a back seat to geopolitics. The U.S. conflict with Iran briefly became the market’s dominant narrative, raising concerns about oil prices, inflation, and global growth. But as energy markets remained orderly and fears of a prolonged supply disruption faded, investors quickly turned their focus back to fundamentals. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 5 Quality Compounder Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-07

AIG Beats Q2 Earnings Estimates on Robust Underwriting Income

Zacks
American International Group, Inc. AIG reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2, which topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.89. The bottom line increased 10.5% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues advanced 3.9% year over year to $7.1 billion. However, the top line missed the consensus mark by 2.2%. The quarterly earnings were driven by improved underwriting results in the North America Commercial and Global Personal segments, supported by lower catastrophe losses. However, the upside was partly offset by lower investment income and elevated benefits, losses and expenses. American International Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | American International Group, Inc. Quote Net premiums written totaled $7.5 billion, reflecting 9% year-over-year growth, driven by organic expansion in selected businesses and contributions from recent strategic transactions. Total net investment income declined 23.1% year over year to $1.1 billion, but beat the consensus mark by 14.9%. The decrease was primarily due to changes in the fair value of its investments in Corebridge and equity securities. AIG also sold its remaining Corebridge stake for aggregate proceeds of about $710 million. Total benefits, losses and expenses amounted to $5.8 billion, up 4.9% year over year, mainly due to higher losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred. Adjusted return on equity improved 50 basis points year over year to 10.2%, reflecting enhanced profitability and capital efficiency. Underwriting income for the General Insurance segment rose 10% year over year to $686 million. This result significantly outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.1%. The segment’s combined ratio improved 30 basis points to 89%, reflecting significantly stronger underwriting performance compared with the prior-year quarter. The segment’s net premiums written increased 9% year over year to $3.1 billion in the second quarter. The uptick was driven by Retail Casualty and Financial Lines. Underwriting income grew 24% year over year to $372 million. This increase was mainly driven by lower catastrophe-related losses, lower operating expense and higher favorable prior-year development. The combined ratio improved 190 basis points to 84%, reflecting significantly stronger underwriting performance year over year. The segment reported net premiums written of $2.6 billi…Read full document

American International Group, Inc. AIG reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2, which topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.89. The bottom line increased 10.5% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues advanced 3.9% year over year to $7.1 billion. However, the top line missed the consensus mark by 2.2%. The quarterly earnings were driven by improved underwriting results in the North America Commercial and Global Personal segments, supported by lower catastrophe losses. However, the upside was partly offset by lower investment income and elevated benefits, losses and expenses. American International Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | American International Group, Inc. Quote Net premiums written totaled $7.5 billion, reflecting 9% year-over-year growth, driven by organic expansion in selected businesses and contributions from recent strategic transactions. Total net investment income declined 23.1% year over year to $1.1 billion, but beat the consensus mark by 14.9%. The decrease was primarily due to changes in the fair value of its investments in Corebridge and equity securities. AIG also sold its remaining Corebridge stake for aggregate proceeds of about $710 million. Total benefits, losses and expenses amounted to $5.8 billion, up 4.9% year over year, mainly due to higher losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred. Adjusted return on equity improved 50 basis points year over year to 10.2%, reflecting enhanced profitability and capital efficiency. Underwriting income for the General Insurance segment rose 10% year over year to $686 million. This result significantly outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.1%. The segment’s combined ratio improved 30 basis points to 89%, reflecting significantly stronger underwriting performance compared with the prior-year quarter. The segment’s net premiums written increased 9% year over year to $3.1 billion in the second quarter. The uptick was driven by Retail Casualty and Financial Lines. Underwriting income grew 24% year over year to $372 million. This increase was mainly driven by lower catastrophe-related losses, lower operating expense and higher favorable prior-year development. The combined ratio improved 190 basis points to 84%, reflecting significantly stronger underwriting performance year over year. The segment reported net premiums written of $2.6 billion, up 11% year over year. The growth was mainly driven by Property and Marine. Underwriting income decreased 33% year over year to $200 million in the quarter and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 35.8%. The combined ratio deteriorated 540 basis points to 91.3%. This was mainly due to higher catastrophe charges, rate pressure and a higher acquisition ratio. Net premiums written totaled $1.8 billion, which improved 7% year over year. The increase was mainly driven by growth in the High Net Worth and Accident and Health businesses. Underwriting income rose to $114 million compared to $25 million a year ago. The combined ratio improved 560 basis points to 92.9%. This was driven by a lower accident-year loss ratio, improved High Net Worth commission terms, reduced operating expenses and reduced catastrophe losses. Net investment income and other fell 58% year over year to $39 million. This was mainly due to lower parent liquidity and reduced dividends from Corebridge. Interest expense declined 2% to $99 million. Adjusted pre-tax loss widened 41% year over year to $142 million. AIG ended the second quarter with a cash balance of $1.5 billion compared with $1.3 billion at the end of 2025. Total assets were $163.5 billion, higher than $161.3 billion at the end of 2025. Long-term debt totaled $9 billion at the second-quarter end, which fell 0.7% from year-end 2025. Total shareholders’ equity fell to $40.6 billion from $41.1 billion at year-end 2025. Adjusted book value per share improved to $79.98 from $76.62 in the prior-year quarter. AIG returned capital to its shareholders through approximately $641 million in share repurchases and $263 million in dividends during the second quarter of 2026. The company announced a cash dividend of 50 cents per common share, to be paid on Sept. 30, 2026, to its shareholders of record as of Sept. 16. AIG currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Here are some stocks from the broader insurance space that have also reported their quarterly results: MetLife, Inc. MET, Aon plc AON and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here's how they have performed: MetLife reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted operating earnings per share (EPS) of $2.43, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.6%. The bottom line advanced 20% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues improved 6.4% year over year to $19.1 billion. MET’s second-quarter earnings benefited from improved net investment income, favorable underwriting results and solid business volume growth across segments. Growth in adjusted PFOs and strong performances in Group Benefits, Asia and EMEA also supported results. However, higher expenses and a wider-than-expected loss in the Corporate & Other unit partially offset the upside. Aon reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.81 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. The bottom line advanced 9% year over year. Total revenues of $4.2 billion grew 2% year over year. AON’s quarterly results were supported by strong organic revenue growth, healthy client retention, operating margin expansion and disciplined execution. Solid performance across the Commercial Risk, Reinsurance and Health Solutions businesses was partly offset by weakness in Wealth Solutions. Hartford delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, which improved 6.8% year over year. HIG’s quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American International Group, Inc. (AIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (HIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report MetLife, Inc. (MET) : Free Stock Analysis Report Aon plc (AON) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-06

MetLife Tops Q2 Earnings Estimates on Strong Investment Income

Zacks
MetLife, Inc. MET reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted operating earnings per share (EPS) of $2.43, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.6%. The bottom line advanced 20% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues improved 6.4% year over year to $19.1 billion. The top line missed the consensus mark by 1.4%. MetLife’s second-quarter earnings benefited from improved net investment income, favorable underwriting results and solid business volume growth across segments. Growth in adjusted PFOs and strong performances in Group Benefits, Asia and EMEA also supported results. However, higher expenses and a wider-than-expected loss in the Corporate & Other unit partially offset the upside. MetLife, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | MetLife, Inc. Quote Adjusted PFOs, excluding pension risk transfer (PRT), were $13 billion. The metric rose 5% year over year. Adjusted net investment income grew 7% year over year to $5.6 billion on the back of growth in assets and investments in a higher-rate environment. Total expenses of $18.1 billion escalated 10.8% year over year due to increased policyholder benefits and claims, and other expenses, net of capitalization of DAC. Adjusted expense ratio, excluding total notable items related to adjusted other expenses and PRT, deteriorated 100 basis points year over year to 20.8%. Net income of $705 million rose 1% year over year in the second quarter. Adjusted return on equity, excluding total notable items, improved 240 bps year over year to 17%. Group Benefits: The segment reported adjusted earnings of $503 million in the second quarter, reflecting a 25% year-over-year increase and beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 16.6%. The strong performance was driven by improved underwriting results and continued business volume growth. Adjusted PFOs rose 1% year over year to $6.5 billion. RIS: Adjusted earnings totaled $377 million, which rose 2% year over year but missed the consensus mark by 7.1%. Improved volumes growth and favorable recurring interest margins benefited the metric. Adjusted PFOs, excluding PRT, advanced 19% year over year to $1.3 billion. Asia: The unit recorded adjusted earnings of $420 million, which rose 21% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.2%. The metric was supported by improved variable investment income, favorable equity markets and higher volume. Adjusted PFOs remaine…Read full document

MetLife, Inc. MET reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted operating earnings per share (EPS) of $2.43, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.6%. The bottom line advanced 20% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues improved 6.4% year over year to $19.1 billion. The top line missed the consensus mark by 1.4%. MetLife’s second-quarter earnings benefited from improved net investment income, favorable underwriting results and solid business volume growth across segments. Growth in adjusted PFOs and strong performances in Group Benefits, Asia and EMEA also supported results. However, higher expenses and a wider-than-expected loss in the Corporate & Other unit partially offset the upside. MetLife, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | MetLife, Inc. Quote Adjusted PFOs, excluding pension risk transfer (PRT), were $13 billion. The metric rose 5% year over year. Adjusted net investment income grew 7% year over year to $5.6 billion on the back of growth in assets and investments in a higher-rate environment. Total expenses of $18.1 billion escalated 10.8% year over year due to increased policyholder benefits and claims, and other expenses, net of capitalization of DAC. Adjusted expense ratio, excluding total notable items related to adjusted other expenses and PRT, deteriorated 100 basis points year over year to 20.8%. Net income of $705 million rose 1% year over year in the second quarter. Adjusted return on equity, excluding total notable items, improved 240 bps year over year to 17%. Group Benefits: The segment reported adjusted earnings of $503 million in the second quarter, reflecting a 25% year-over-year increase and beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 16.6%. The strong performance was driven by improved underwriting results and continued business volume growth. Adjusted PFOs rose 1% year over year to $6.5 billion. RIS: Adjusted earnings totaled $377 million, which rose 2% year over year but missed the consensus mark by 7.1%. Improved volumes growth and favorable recurring interest margins benefited the metric. Adjusted PFOs, excluding PRT, advanced 19% year over year to $1.3 billion. Asia: The unit recorded adjusted earnings of $420 million, which rose 21% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.2%. The metric was supported by improved variable investment income, favorable equity markets and higher volume. Adjusted PFOs remained flat year over year to $1.7 billion in the quarter. Latin America: Adjusted earnings of $268 million increased 15% year over year on a reported basis and 4% year over year on a constant-currency basis. The metric topped the consensus estimate by 11.2%, driven by higher volume and favorable market factors. Adjusted PFOs were $1.9 billion, up 16% year over year on a reported basis and 6% on a constant-currency basis, driven by solid business growth and strong persistency across the region. EMEA: The segment recorded adjusted earnings of $108 million in the second quarter, which advanced 8% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 15.3%. Strong volumes aided the metric. Adjusted PFOs rose 12% year over year to $806 million on the back of strong policy renewal across the region and solid sales momentum. MetLife Investment Management: The segment recorded adjusted earnings of $57 million, which advanced 6% year over year on the back of strong business growth and expense management. However, the metric missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.1%. Corporate & Other: The unit incurred an adjusted loss of $160 million, wider than the prior-year quarter’s loss of $142 million. It also came higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of adjusted loss of $150.5 million. MetLife exited the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $19.3 billion, down from $22 billion at the end of 2025. Total assets were $759.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, compared with $745.2 billion as of 2025-end. Long-term debt totaled $14.2 billion, lower than $14.5 billion at the end of 2025, while short-term debt amounted to $460 million. Total equity was $27.7 billion compared with $28.7 billion as of 2025-end. Book value per share increased 7.8% year over year to $38.59 as of June 30, 2026. MetLife bought back shares worth $700 million in the second quarter. It pursued additional repurchases of roughly $225 million in July 2026. Management paid common stock dividends of $400 million in the quarter under review. Management earlier expected a pre-tax variable investment income of around $1.6 billion for 2026. The expense ratio was earlier projected to be 12.1%. Corporate & Other adjusted losses were earlier projected to be between $500 million and $700 million. The effective tax rate was projected to be 24-26%. MetLife earlier expected adjusted PFOs in the Group Benefits business to rise in the range of 4-7% annually. Adjusted PFOs in the Latin America unit were earlier expected to witness high-single-digit growth on a constant-currency basis, while those in the EMEA unit were earlier guided to grow at a high-single-digit rate on a reported basis. MetLife still aims to achieve an adjusted return on equity in the range of 15-17%. The company also continues to expect to deliver double-digit adjusted EPS growth in the near term. MET currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Here are some stocks from the broader insurance space that have also reported their quarterly results: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR, Aon plc AON and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here's how they have performed: RenaissanceRe reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $12.92 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.9%.  The bottom line also improved 5.1% year over year. Total operating revenues declined 6.7% year over year to $2.64 billion. The quarterly earnings benefited from lower expenses, higher net investment income and an improved total combined ratio. However, RNR’s upside was partly offset by lower net premiums earned, weaker underwriting results in the Casualty & Specialty segment and lower fee income. Aon reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.81 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. The bottom line advanced 9% year over year. Total revenues of $4.2 billion grew 2% year over year. AON’s quarterly results were supported by strong organic revenue growth, healthy client retention, operating margin expansion and disciplined execution. Solid performance across the Commercial Risk, Reinsurance and Health Solutions businesses was partly offset by weakness in Wealth Solutions. Hartford delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, which improved 6.8% year over year. HIG’s quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MetLife, Inc. (MET) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (HIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Aon plc (AON) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-06

Allstate Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Higher Investment Income

Zacks
The Allstate Corporation ALL reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted net income of $8.99 per share, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 56.1%. The bottom line surged 51.3% year over year. Operating revenues of $17.5 billion grew 4.5% year over year. However, the top line missed the consensus mark by 1.1%. Allstate's quarterly earnings benefited from improved underwriting performance, premium growth supported by higher pricing and policy growth, robust investment income, and lower catastrophe losses, partly offset by lower adjusted net income in the Protection Services segment. The Allstate Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Allstate Corporation Quote Property and casualty insurance premiums improved 4.2% year over year to $15.7 billion. Net investment income of $1 billion advanced 33.8% year over year on the back of a growing market- and performance-based portfolio. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $870 million. Market-based investment income rose 14.2% year over year to $837 million and performance-based investment income jumped 202.5% year over year to $239 million. Total costs and expenses were $14.5 billion, which decreased 2.5% year over year and was lower than our estimate of $16.4 billion. The year-over-year decline was due to decreased property and casualty insurance claims and claims expenses, accident, health and other policy benefits and Pension and other postretirement remeasurement (gains) losses. Catastrophe losses of $1.4 billion dropped 12.8% year over year. Allstate’s pretax income increased 53.2% year over year to $4.1 billion. As of June 30, 2026, total policies in force were 216 million, up 3.8% year over year. The Property-Liability segment reported premiums earned of $14.9 billion in the second quarter, up 4.4% year over year, driven by higher average premiums in homeowners insurance and growth in policies in force. However, the metric missed both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and our estimate of $15.2 billion. Underwriting income in the segment surged 56.7% year over year to $2 billion. The underlying combined ratio improved 10 basis points to 79.4%. The Protection Services segment’s revenues advanced 7.8% year over year to $935 million, aided by Allstate Protection Plans and Roadside businesses. The metric lagged our estimate of $957 million. Adjusted net income of $53 million declined 7% yea…Read full document

The Allstate Corporation ALL reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted net income of $8.99 per share, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 56.1%. The bottom line surged 51.3% year over year. Operating revenues of $17.5 billion grew 4.5% year over year. However, the top line missed the consensus mark by 1.1%. Allstate's quarterly earnings benefited from improved underwriting performance, premium growth supported by higher pricing and policy growth, robust investment income, and lower catastrophe losses, partly offset by lower adjusted net income in the Protection Services segment. The Allstate Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Allstate Corporation Quote Property and casualty insurance premiums improved 4.2% year over year to $15.7 billion. Net investment income of $1 billion advanced 33.8% year over year on the back of a growing market- and performance-based portfolio. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $870 million. Market-based investment income rose 14.2% year over year to $837 million and performance-based investment income jumped 202.5% year over year to $239 million. Total costs and expenses were $14.5 billion, which decreased 2.5% year over year and was lower than our estimate of $16.4 billion. The year-over-year decline was due to decreased property and casualty insurance claims and claims expenses, accident, health and other policy benefits and Pension and other postretirement remeasurement (gains) losses. Catastrophe losses of $1.4 billion dropped 12.8% year over year. Allstate’s pretax income increased 53.2% year over year to $4.1 billion. As of June 30, 2026, total policies in force were 216 million, up 3.8% year over year. The Property-Liability segment reported premiums earned of $14.9 billion in the second quarter, up 4.4% year over year, driven by higher average premiums in homeowners insurance and growth in policies in force. However, the metric missed both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and our estimate of $15.2 billion. Underwriting income in the segment surged 56.7% year over year to $2 billion. The underlying combined ratio improved 10 basis points to 79.4%. The Protection Services segment’s revenues advanced 7.8% year over year to $935 million, aided by Allstate Protection Plans and Roadside businesses. The metric lagged our estimate of $957 million. Adjusted net income of $53 million declined 7% year over year. Allstate exited the second quarter with a cash balance of $840 million, up from $678 million as of 2025-end. Total assets increased to $124.8 billion from $119.8 billion at the end of 2025. Debt remained unchanged at $7.5 billion from the 2025-end level. Total equity increased to $33.7 billion from $30.6 billion at the end of 2025. Book value per common share was $123.38 as of June 30, 2026, up 49.7% year over year. Backed by its $4.0 billion share repurchase authorization announced on Feb. 4, 2026, the company returned $1.3 billion to shareholders in the second quarter, comprising $1.0 billion in share repurchases and $280 million in dividends. The repurchase program remains in effect through Feb. 29, 2028. ALL currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Here are some stocks from the broader Finance space that have also reported their quarterly results: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR, Cincinnati Financial Corporation CINF and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here's how they have performed: RenaissanceRe reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $12.92 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.9%.  The bottom line improved 5.1% year over year. Total operating revenues declined 6.7% year over year to $2.64 billion. The quarterly earnings benefited from lower expenses, higher net investment income and an improved total combined ratio. However, RNR’s upside was partly offset by lower net premiums earned, weaker underwriting results in the Casualty & Specialty segment and lower fee income. Cincinnati Financial reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $1.43 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21.4%. The bottom line declined 27.4% from the year-ago quarter. Total operating revenues for the second quarter were $3 billion, reflecting a 6.8% year-over-year increase. The figure, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.4%. CINF's quarterly results benefited from strong premium growth, improved pricing, and higher net investment income. However, weaker underwriting performance, driven by higher catastrophe losses, weighed on results. The Hartford Insurance Group delivered second-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues amounted to $5.23 billion, which improved 6.8% year over year. HIG’s quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Allstate Corporation (ALL) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (HIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF) : Free Stock Analysis Report RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-04

CNO Financial Beats Q2 Earnings Estimates on Higher Collected Premiums

Zacks
CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.26, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 27.3%. The bottom line rose from 87 cents a year ago. Operating revenues of $1.3 billion advanced 13% year over year. The top line surpassed the consensus mark by 32%. The strong quarterly results were supported by strong collected premiums from annuity, life and health products along with a notable rise in net investment income. Nevertheless, the upside was partly offset by a rise in total benefits and expenses as a result of higher insurance policy benefits. CNO Financial Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CNO Financial Group, Inc. Quote Total insurance policy income rose 4.5% year over year to $680.7 million, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $660 million. The metric was aided by improved collected premiums from annuity, life and health products. Net investment income was $597 million, which improved from the year-ago period of $483.7 million. General account assets grew 8.9% year over year to $411.9 million. Policyholder and other special-purpose portfolios totaled $185.1 million compared with the prior-year quarter’s $105.4 million. Fee revenues and other income declined 36.4% year over year to $22.2 million. Annuity collected premiums of $536 million rose 3% year over year, while health collected premiums increased 5.5% to $432 million. Collected premiums from life products totaled $249.3 million, which rose 1.5% year over year. The total collected premiums advanced 3.6% year over year to $1.2 billion. New annualized premiums for health products rose 18.2% year over year, while the same for life products declined 3.8%. Annuity, Health and Life products accounted for 21.7%, 52.8% and 25.5%, respectively, of CNO's insurance margin. Total benefits and expenses rose 8.9% year over year to $1.1 billion due to higher insurance policy benefits. CNO Financial exited the second quarter with unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $1.3 billion, which rose 68.4% from the 2025-end level. Total assets of $39.9 billion rose 6.8% from the figure at 2025-end. The debt-to-capital was 34% at the second-quarter end, which deteriorated 40 basis points (bps) from the 2025-end figure. Total shareholders’ equity declined 1.8% from the 2025-end level to $2.6 billion. Book value per common share was $27.96,…Read full document

CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.26, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 27.3%. The bottom line rose from 87 cents a year ago. Operating revenues of $1.3 billion advanced 13% year over year. The top line surpassed the consensus mark by 32%. The strong quarterly results were supported by strong collected premiums from annuity, life and health products along with a notable rise in net investment income. Nevertheless, the upside was partly offset by a rise in total benefits and expenses as a result of higher insurance policy benefits. CNO Financial Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CNO Financial Group, Inc. Quote Total insurance policy income rose 4.5% year over year to $680.7 million, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $660 million. The metric was aided by improved collected premiums from annuity, life and health products. Net investment income was $597 million, which improved from the year-ago period of $483.7 million. General account assets grew 8.9% year over year to $411.9 million. Policyholder and other special-purpose portfolios totaled $185.1 million compared with the prior-year quarter’s $105.4 million. Fee revenues and other income declined 36.4% year over year to $22.2 million. Annuity collected premiums of $536 million rose 3% year over year, while health collected premiums increased 5.5% to $432 million. Collected premiums from life products totaled $249.3 million, which rose 1.5% year over year. The total collected premiums advanced 3.6% year over year to $1.2 billion. New annualized premiums for health products rose 18.2% year over year, while the same for life products declined 3.8%. Annuity, Health and Life products accounted for 21.7%, 52.8% and 25.5%, respectively, of CNO's insurance margin. Total benefits and expenses rose 8.9% year over year to $1.1 billion due to higher insurance policy benefits. CNO Financial exited the second quarter with unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $1.3 billion, which rose 68.4% from the 2025-end level. Total assets of $39.9 billion rose 6.8% from the figure at 2025-end. The debt-to-capital was 34% at the second-quarter end, which deteriorated 40 basis points (bps) from the 2025-end figure. Total shareholders’ equity declined 1.8% from the 2025-end level to $2.6 billion. Book value per common share was $27.96, which increased 0.1% from the figure at 2025-end. Operating return on equity, excluding significant items, improved 190 bps year over year to 13.1% at the second-quarter end. CNO Financial rewarded its shareholders with $60 million in the form of share buybacks and $16.8 million in dividends during the second quarter. As of June 30, 2026, the company had a leftover repurchase capacity of $300.4 million. CNO Financial raised its full-year 2026 guidance, indicating confidence in the current operating trajectory. The company now expects operating EPS to be in the range of $4.60-$4.80, up from the previously guided range of $4.25-$4.45. The mid-point of which now indicates a 6.8% increase from the 2025 reported figure of $4.40. For 2026, management still anticipates excess cash flow of $200-$250 million to the holding company. The company now projects the expense ratio to be in the band of 18.8-19% for 2026. It estimates the effective tax rate to be around 21.5%. Management still aims to achieve leverage within the band of 25-28%. CNO currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Here are some stocks from the broader finance space that have also reported their quarterly results: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR, Aon plc AON and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here's how they have performed: RenaissanceRe reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $12.92 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.9%.  The bottom line also improved 5.1% year over year. Total operating revenues declined 6.7% year over year to $2.64 billion. The quarterly earnings benefited from lower expenses, higher net investment income and an improved total combined ratio. However, RNR’s upside was partly offset by lower net premiums earned, weaker underwriting results in the Casualty & Specialty segment and lower fee income. Aon reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.81 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. The bottom line advanced 9% year over year. Total revenues of $4.2 billion grew 2% year over year. AON’s quarterly results were supported by strong organic revenue growth, healthy client retention, operating margin expansion and disciplined execution. Solid performance across the Commercial Risk, Reinsurance and Health Solutions businesses was partly offset by weakness in Wealth Solutions. Hartford delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, which improved 6.8% year over year. HIG’s quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (HIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Aon plc (AON) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-03

MKTX Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong Emerging Markets Volumes

Zacks
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share of $1.95, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.7%. However, the bottom line decreased 2.5% year over year. Total revenues were $218.4 million, which fell 0.5% year over year. However, the top line beat the consensus mark by 0.5%. The quarterly results were aided by solid growth in emerging markets and Eurobonds trading volumes. Increased information services, technology services and post-trade services revenues also contributed to the upside. The gains were partly offset by higher expenses and lower commission revenues, along with weaker high-grade and high-yield trading volumes. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | MarketAxess Holdings Inc. Quote Commission revenues declined 3% year over year to $186.9 million. The metric missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $188.9 million and our estimate of $196.2 million. Information services revenues of $16.1 million grew 23% year over year. The metric beat the consensus mark of $14.1 million and our estimate of $13.2 million. Post-trade services revenues increased 5% year over year to $11.6 million, while technology services revenues rose 8% to $3.8 million. Total expenses were $128.5 million, which rose 1% year over year in the quarter due to higher technology and communications costs, professional and consulting fees, and marketing and advertising. The metric was lower than our estimate of $138.3 million. MarketAxess’ net income fell 4% year over year to $68.3 million but came in higher than our estimate of $67.1 million. The net income margin of 31.3% deteriorated 110 basis points year over year. The high-grade trading volume of MarketAxess was $461.1 billion in the second quarter, which declined 4% year over year and lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $473.4 billion. The ADV of the same product category totaled $7.4 million, which fell 4% year over year and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.6 million. High-yield trading volume of $96.7 billion fell 8% year over year, while ADV declined 8% to $1.6 billion. Other credit trading volume rose 2% year over year to $40.7 billion, whereas ADV for the same product category increased 2% to $657 million. Trading volume and ADV of emerging markets rose 12% each on a year-over-year basis to $279 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively. The Eurob…Read full document

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. MKTX reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share of $1.95, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.7%. However, the bottom line decreased 2.5% year over year. Total revenues were $218.4 million, which fell 0.5% year over year. However, the top line beat the consensus mark by 0.5%. The quarterly results were aided by solid growth in emerging markets and Eurobonds trading volumes. Increased information services, technology services and post-trade services revenues also contributed to the upside. The gains were partly offset by higher expenses and lower commission revenues, along with weaker high-grade and high-yield trading volumes. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | MarketAxess Holdings Inc. Quote Commission revenues declined 3% year over year to $186.9 million. The metric missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $188.9 million and our estimate of $196.2 million. Information services revenues of $16.1 million grew 23% year over year. The metric beat the consensus mark of $14.1 million and our estimate of $13.2 million. Post-trade services revenues increased 5% year over year to $11.6 million, while technology services revenues rose 8% to $3.8 million. Total expenses were $128.5 million, which rose 1% year over year in the quarter due to higher technology and communications costs, professional and consulting fees, and marketing and advertising. The metric was lower than our estimate of $138.3 million. MarketAxess’ net income fell 4% year over year to $68.3 million but came in higher than our estimate of $67.1 million. The net income margin of 31.3% deteriorated 110 basis points year over year. The high-grade trading volume of MarketAxess was $461.1 billion in the second quarter, which declined 4% year over year and lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $473.4 billion. The ADV of the same product category totaled $7.4 million, which fell 4% year over year and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.6 million. High-yield trading volume of $96.7 billion fell 8% year over year, while ADV declined 8% to $1.6 billion. Other credit trading volume rose 2% year over year to $40.7 billion, whereas ADV for the same product category increased 2% to $657 million. Trading volume and ADV of emerging markets rose 12% each on a year-over-year basis to $279 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively. The Eurobonds’ trading volume rose 2% and ADV improved 1% on a year-over-year basis. The total credit trading volume of $1 trillion rose 1% year over year. Total credit ADV inched up 0.3% to $16.9 billion. Total rates’ trading volume and ADV of this product category each declined 19% on a year-over-year basis. MarketAxess exited the second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $245.8 million, which fell from the 2025-end level of $519.7 million. Total assets of $2.4 billion rose 25.2% from the figure at 2025-end. The company had $112 million in outstanding borrowings under its credit facility at the end of the second quarter. Total stockholders’ equity of $1.2 billion rose 8.1% from the 2025-end level. Net cash provided by operating activities was $26.8 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared with $103.7 million in the prior-year quarter. The free cash flow declined 21.3% year over year to $88.9 million in the second quarter of 2026. As of July 29, 2026, $205 million remained available under the board-authorized share repurchase program. The board declared a quarterly cash dividend of 78 cents per share, which will be paid out on Sept. 2, 2026, to its shareholders of record as of Aug. 19. MKTX has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. MKTX currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Here are some stocks from the broader finance space that have also reported their quarterly results: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR, Aon plc AON and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here's how they have performed: RenaissanceRe reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $12.92 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.9%.  The bottom line also improved 5.1% year over year. Total operating revenues declined 6.7% year over year to $2.64 billion. The quarterly earnings benefited from lower expenses, higher net investment income and an improved total combined ratio. However, RNR’s upside was partly offset by lower net premiums earned, weaker underwriting results in the Casualty & Specialty segment and lower fee income. Aon reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.81 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. The bottom line advanced 9% year over year. Total revenues of $4.2 billion grew 2% year over year. AON’s quarterly results were supported by strong organic revenue growth, healthy client retention, operating margin expansion and disciplined execution. Solid performance across the Commercial Risk, Reinsurance and Health Solutions businesses was partly offset by weakness in Wealth Solutions. Hartford delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, which improved 6.8% year over year. HIG’s quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (HIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Aon plc (AON) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-08-01

5 Insightful Analyst Questions From Hartford’s Q2 Earnings Call

StockStory
Hartford’s second quarter was shaped by robust underwriting results across its core business insurance and employee benefits segments, as well as disciplined execution in personal insurance. Management highlighted that automation and AI-enabled underwriting capabilities supported premium growth and improved combined ratios, especially in small commercial lines. CEO Christopher Swift pointed to the company’s “commitment to a superior customer experience” and differentiated risk selection as key themes for the quarter. The sale of Hartford Funds and a new share repurchase authorization were also central to the company’s capital management strategy this period. Is now the time to buy HIG? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $7.26 billion vs analyst estimates of $7.24 billion (8.1% year-on-year growth, in line) Adjusted EPS: $3.42 vs analyst estimates of $3.14 (8.9% beat) Market Capitalization: $39.46 billion While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Andrew Kligerman (TD Cowen) questioned whether recent reserve additions in general liability and commercial auto reflect a one-time event or signal a longer-term trend. CFO Beth Costello responded that the reserve increases were modest and not indicative of a chronic issue, citing ongoing stability in the underlying book. Brian Meredith (UBS) asked about the impact of fire losses on commercial lines and whether higher loss ratios were due to changes in business mix. Costello clarified that loss ratio changes were primarily a result of mix shifts toward national accounts and commercial auto, not a change in loss trend assumptions. Michael Zaremski (BMO Capital Markets) pressed for insight on the stability of forward loss trend expectations in casualty lines. Costello indicated that there was a very minor impact from recent developments and no significant change in outlook for loss trends. Gregory Peters (Raymond James) explored competitive pressures in personal insurance and the rollout of new agency products. CEO Swift and Personal Lines Head Melinda Thompson noted agency channel growth and strategic product expansion, but acknowledged ongoing he…Read full document

Hartford’s second quarter was shaped by robust underwriting results across its core business insurance and employee benefits segments, as well as disciplined execution in personal insurance. Management highlighted that automation and AI-enabled underwriting capabilities supported premium growth and improved combined ratios, especially in small commercial lines. CEO Christopher Swift pointed to the company’s “commitment to a superior customer experience” and differentiated risk selection as key themes for the quarter. The sale of Hartford Funds and a new share repurchase authorization were also central to the company’s capital management strategy this period. Is now the time to buy HIG? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $7.26 billion vs analyst estimates of $7.24 billion (8.1% year-on-year growth, in line) Adjusted EPS: $3.42 vs analyst estimates of $3.14 (8.9% beat) Market Capitalization: $39.46 billion While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Andrew Kligerman (TD Cowen) questioned whether recent reserve additions in general liability and commercial auto reflect a one-time event or signal a longer-term trend. CFO Beth Costello responded that the reserve increases were modest and not indicative of a chronic issue, citing ongoing stability in the underlying book. Brian Meredith (UBS) asked about the impact of fire losses on commercial lines and whether higher loss ratios were due to changes in business mix. Costello clarified that loss ratio changes were primarily a result of mix shifts toward national accounts and commercial auto, not a change in loss trend assumptions. Michael Zaremski (BMO Capital Markets) pressed for insight on the stability of forward loss trend expectations in casualty lines. Costello indicated that there was a very minor impact from recent developments and no significant change in outlook for loss trends. Gregory Peters (Raymond James) explored competitive pressures in personal insurance and the rollout of new agency products. CEO Swift and Personal Lines Head Melinda Thompson noted agency channel growth and strategic product expansion, but acknowledged ongoing headwinds in direct channels. Taylor Scott (Barclays) inquired about Hartford’s capital management strategy following the funds transaction and the rationale for the increased share repurchase authorization. CFO Costello explained that the buyback was sized to reflect both expected proceeds from the sale and organic business growth. Looking ahead, the StockStory team will be monitoring (1) Hartford’s ability to sustain underwriting margins and premium growth amid competitive pressures, particularly in personal insurance; (2) the integration and impact of AI-enabled underwriting and claims automation on expense ratios and productivity; and (3) tangible benefits from the sale of Hartford Funds and the expanded share repurchase program. Further, developments in employee benefits and investment income trends will be important markers of execution. Hartford currently trades at $145.37, up from $142.18 just before the earnings. At this price, is it a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Top 5 Momentum Stocks. The best time to own a great stock is when the market is finally noticing it. These aren’t just high-quality businesses. Something is happening with them right now. Elite fundamentals meet near-term momentum — both boxes checked at the same time. Find out which stocks our AI platform is flagging this week. See this week’s Strong Momentum stocks — FREE. Get Our Strong Momentum Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+1,154% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-07-27

Hartford Insurance Post-Earnings Stock Decline due to Margin Pressures, Liability Reserve Charges, RBC Says

MT Newswires

Hartford Insurance (HIG) share weakness last week despite a Q2 earnings beat was due to margin press

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-07-24

The Hartford Insurance Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

MarketBeat
Interested in The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. The Hartford reported second-quarter 2026 core earnings of $945 million, or $3.42 per share, with an 18.7% trailing 12-month core earnings ROE. The company also announced a new $4.2 billion share-repurchase program through December 2028 and plans to sell Hartford Funds to Wellington Management. Business Insurance and Personal Insurance both showed solid underwriting performance. Business Insurance premiums rose 5% and the segment posted an 89.3 underlying combined ratio, while Personal Insurance improved to an 86.3 underlying combined ratio despite a 7% decline in written premiums. Management highlighted reserve strengthening in general liability and commercial auto due to higher-severity claims, but said the impact was modest. Meanwhile, Employee Benefits and net investment income both helped support results, with investment income up 22% year over year to $800 million. 3 Insurance Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs With More Room to Run The Hartford Insurance Group (NYSE:HIG) reported second-quarter 2026 core earnings of $945 million, or $3.42 per diluted share, as strength in its commercial insurance, employee benefits and investment operations supported results. The insurer’s trailing 12-month core earnings return on equity was 18.7%, while book value per share excluding accumulated other comprehensive income rose 7% from year-end to $78.91. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Swift said the company’s results reflected the strength of its property-and-casualty and Employee Benefits franchises, distribution relationships and customer-service capabilities. The Hartford also announced an agreement to sell Hartford Funds to Wellington Management, characterizing the business as a non-core long-term investment. → Could Truth API Become Trump Media’s First Meaningful Revenue Driver? The board authorized a new $4.2 billion share-repurchase program through December 2028, in addition to approximately $650 million remaining under the prior authorization as of June 30. Chief Financial Officer Beth Costello said the company repurchased 3.4 million shares for $450 million during the quarter and expects to raise quarterly repurchases to $475 million for the rest of 2026. Business Insurance generated core earnings of $695 million, with written premiums increasing 5% and an underlying…Read full document

Interested in The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. The Hartford reported second-quarter 2026 core earnings of $945 million, or $3.42 per share, with an 18.7% trailing 12-month core earnings ROE. The company also announced a new $4.2 billion share-repurchase program through December 2028 and plans to sell Hartford Funds to Wellington Management. Business Insurance and Personal Insurance both showed solid underwriting performance. Business Insurance premiums rose 5% and the segment posted an 89.3 underlying combined ratio, while Personal Insurance improved to an 86.3 underlying combined ratio despite a 7% decline in written premiums. Management highlighted reserve strengthening in general liability and commercial auto due to higher-severity claims, but said the impact was modest. Meanwhile, Employee Benefits and net investment income both helped support results, with investment income up 22% year over year to $800 million. 3 Insurance Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs With More Room to Run The Hartford Insurance Group (NYSE:HIG) reported second-quarter 2026 core earnings of $945 million, or $3.42 per diluted share, as strength in its commercial insurance, employee benefits and investment operations supported results. The insurer’s trailing 12-month core earnings return on equity was 18.7%, while book value per share excluding accumulated other comprehensive income rose 7% from year-end to $78.91. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Swift said the company’s results reflected the strength of its property-and-casualty and Employee Benefits franchises, distribution relationships and customer-service capabilities. The Hartford also announced an agreement to sell Hartford Funds to Wellington Management, characterizing the business as a non-core long-term investment. → Could Truth API Become Trump Media’s First Meaningful Revenue Driver? The board authorized a new $4.2 billion share-repurchase program through December 2028, in addition to approximately $650 million remaining under the prior authorization as of June 30. Chief Financial Officer Beth Costello said the company repurchased 3.4 million shares for $450 million during the quarter and expects to raise quarterly repurchases to $475 million for the rest of 2026. Business Insurance generated core earnings of $695 million, with written premiums increasing 5% and an underlying combined ratio of 89.3. Small Business written premiums rose 7%, supported by double-digit growth in package products and excess-and-surplus binding business. Its underlying combined ratio improved 2.5 points from a year earlier to 86.5, primarily due to lower non-catastrophe property losses and improved operating leverage. → GE Vernova Just Sent a Mixed AI Signal to Investors Middle and Large business premiums increased 4%, while its underlying combined ratio was 95.3. Costello said results included elevated non-catastrophe property losses, including several large fire losses, as well as a business mix shift toward National Accounts and commercial auto. She said the company expects the full-year Middle and Large underlying combined ratio to be roughly a point better than its 93.3 year-to-date level if non-catastrophe property losses normalize in the second half. Global Specialty premiums grew 4%, and the segment reported an 85.8 underlying combined ratio. The ratio increased from the previous year because of a higher international loss ratio and technology-related expenses. Swift said the business continued to see momentum in wholesale excess casualty and auto, bond, and financial lines. → D-Wave Quantum or a Quantum ETF: Which Is the Better Bet? Business Insurance renewal written pricing excluding workers’ compensation was 5.8%, relatively consistent with prior trends. Commercial auto and general liability rates remained above loss trends, while umbrella and excess lines achieved some of the strongest increases across the portfolio. Property pricing moderated, particularly in large property, although Swift said aggregate pricing in Small Business package and middle-market general-industry property remained in the mid-single digits. Morris Tooker, president of Commercial Lines, said increased competition affected Middle and Large retention, rather than any targeted pruning following reserve actions. He added that The Hartford has reduced its shared-and-layered large-property book to less than $25 million as pricing in that market no longer met the company’s benchmarks. The company reported favorable prior-year reserve development in workers’ compensation, catastrophes, bond and Personal Insurance, partly offset by increases in general liability and commercial auto liability reserves. Costello said general liability prior-year reserves increased by $46 million during the quarter, primarily because of a higher frequency of large losses in excess casualty and umbrella lines across several accident years. The affected periods included 2017 through 2019 and 2022 and 2023, with no addition to accident year 2025, she said. Commercial auto liability reserves rose as adverse development in accident years 2023 and 2024 pointed to higher severity than previously estimated. Costello said the company is seeing more attorney representation and time-limit demands in claims that previously may have involved more minor accidents and injuries. Management described the changes as modest relative to the reserve base and said the reserve review process was unchanged. Costello said the effect on expected forward loss trends was minimal, amounting to tenths of basis points. Current accident-year property-and-casualty catastrophe losses totaled $222 million before tax, compared with $212 million a year earlier. The catastrophe ratio remained unchanged at 4.9 combined-ratio points. Personal Insurance produced $128 million in core earnings and an 86.3 underlying combined ratio, an improvement of 1.7 points from the second quarter of 2025. Auto’s underlying combined ratio improved 1.9 points as earned pricing continued to exceed loss trends, while home results were supported by underwriting execution and low-double-digit pricing. Written premiums in Personal Insurance declined 7%, including a 10% decline in auto and flat home premiums, amid elevated competition for new business. Agency business grew 7% from a year earlier. Renewal written pricing increased 5.5% in auto and 10.4% in home, while auto policy retention improved slightly and home retention was relatively stable. The Personal Insurance expense ratio rose to 26.3 from 25.1 a year earlier, driven by lower earned premiums and higher commissions associated with a growing agency-business mix. Swift said the company’s contemporary agency product was available in 23 states following its July rollout and is expected to reach 30 states by early 2027. He said direct-channel growth is likely to face continued pressure amid high customer shopping activity and strong competition. Employee Benefits earned $139 million in core earnings, producing a 7.4% core earnings margin. Fully insured premium growth benefited from sales execution and persistency in the low 90s. Group life performance was described as excellent, while disability performance was solid. The group disability loss ratio increased 6.3 points to 74.8%, reflecting increased claim incidence across short- and long-term disability. Mike Fish, head of Employee Benefits, said behavioral-health claims were rising somewhat more than other diagnoses in short-tail lines. Paid family and medical leave utilization was also higher in newly launched states and in some longer-established states, though Fish said the company continues to apply rate increases to the book. Net investment income climbed 22% year over year to $800 million, driven by income from limited partnerships and other alternative investments, along with a higher level of invested assets. Annualized limited partnership returns were 7.6% before tax, supported by real estate joint-venture sales and infrastructure and energy-transition funds. The Hartford expects full-year net investment income to increase, with overall portfolio yields broadly in line with 2025. The Hartford Financial Services Group, commonly known as The Hartford, is a U.S.-based insurance and investment company that provides a broad range of commercial and personal insurance products and employee benefits. Its core businesses include property and casualty insurance for businesses and individuals, group benefits such as group life, disability and dental plans, and retirement and investment solutions offered through affiliated asset-management operations. The company also delivers risk management, claims-handling and loss-prevention services designed to support policyholders across a variety of industries. Founded in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1810, The Hartford is one of the oldest insurance organizations in the United States and has a long history of underwriting and product development across multiple insurance lines. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "The Hartford Insurance Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for July 2026.

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-07-24

HIG's Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong Investment Income

Zacks
The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, topping the consensus mark of $5.19 billion by 0.8%. The top line improved 6.8% year over year. The quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. Quote The Hartford’s second-quarter core earnings inched up 1% year over year to $945 million. Net income available to common stockholders rose 31% year over year to $1.3 billion, helped by stronger operating performance and income from discontinued operations. Earned premiums grew 5.3% year over year to $6.3 billion, marginally higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Net investment income, before tax, advanced 22% year over year to $800 million, higher than the consensus mark of $746 million. The increase reflected higher income from limited partnerships and other alternative investments, along with growth in invested assets. Total benefits, losses and expenses escalated 8.8% year over year to $6 billion due to higher amortization of DAC and insurance operating expenses. P&C current accident year catastrophe losses were $222 million, up 4.7% year over year. The Business Insurance unit remained the largest contributor to operating performance, with written premiums rising 5% year over year to $4 billion. Net income rose 1% to $704 million, while core earnings declined marginally year over year to $695 million, as higher premium growth and investment income were offset by underwriting pressures. The segment’s combined ratio deteriorated to 91.4 from 87 in the prior-year quarter, pressured by less favorable prior-year development and higher catastrophe losses. The metric compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 92. Small Business delivered improvement, with written premiums increasing 7% year over year and the combined ratio improving to 85.9. Growth was…Read full document

The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, topping the consensus mark of $5.19 billion by 0.8%. The top line improved 6.8% year over year. The quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability. The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. Quote The Hartford’s second-quarter core earnings inched up 1% year over year to $945 million. Net income available to common stockholders rose 31% year over year to $1.3 billion, helped by stronger operating performance and income from discontinued operations. Earned premiums grew 5.3% year over year to $6.3 billion, marginally higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Net investment income, before tax, advanced 22% year over year to $800 million, higher than the consensus mark of $746 million. The increase reflected higher income from limited partnerships and other alternative investments, along with growth in invested assets. Total benefits, losses and expenses escalated 8.8% year over year to $6 billion due to higher amortization of DAC and insurance operating expenses. P&C current accident year catastrophe losses were $222 million, up 4.7% year over year. The Business Insurance unit remained the largest contributor to operating performance, with written premiums rising 5% year over year to $4 billion. Net income rose 1% to $704 million, while core earnings declined marginally year over year to $695 million, as higher premium growth and investment income were offset by underwriting pressures. The segment’s combined ratio deteriorated to 91.4 from 87 in the prior-year quarter, pressured by less favorable prior-year development and higher catastrophe losses. The metric compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 92. Small Business delivered improvement, with written premiums increasing 7% year over year and the combined ratio improving to 85.9. Growth was supported by double-digit new business expansion. Personal Insurance continued its turnaround, with core earnings rising 36% year over year to $128 million. Written premiums declined 7% to $915 million as competitive market conditions weighed on growth. Profitability improved significantly, with the combined ratio improving to 90.1 from 94.1 in the prior-year quarter. The metric compared favorably with the consensus mark of 97. The segment’s underlying loss and loss adjustment expense ratio improved 280 basis points to 60. Pricing increases outpaced loss cost trends, helping offset pressure from lower earned premiums and higher expenses. P&C Other Operations reported core earnings of $17 million, up 21% year over year. Revenues increased 35.3% year over year to $23 million. Employee Benefits reported core earnings of $139 million, down 15% year over year. The decline reflected higher losses, particularly in group disability, although premium growth remained positive. Fully insured ongoing premiums increased 5% to $1.7 billion. The segment’s core earnings margin was 7.4%, supported by strong life results and solid disability performance. The loss ratio deteriorated to 72.5% from 69.1% in the prior-year quarter, while the expense ratio improved to 25.2% from 25.7% due to earned premium growth and lower commissions, partially offset by higher technology costs. Hartford Funds was reclassified as discontinued operations following the agreement to sell Hartford Funds Management, Inc. The transaction resulted in income from discontinued operations of $318 million before tax in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 compared with $57 million in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to a $251 million income tax benefit related to the sale. Corporate reported net income of $300 million in the quarter compared with $45 million a year ago, while core earnings resulted in a loss of $34 million, narrower than a loss of $36 million in the prior-year period. The improvement in reported results was primarily driven by the Hartford Funds transaction impact. The Hartford exited the second quarter with total assets of $88 billion, up 2.3% from 2025-end, while total investments inched up 0.8% from 2025-end level to $64 billion. Cash rose 2.5% to $125 million during the same period. Debt remained largely stable at $4.4 billion. Total stockholders’ equity came in at $19.6 billion, up 3.4% from year-end 2025. Book value per share excluding AOCI improved 7.2% year over year to $78.91. Operating cash flow was $2.2 billion in the first half of 2026, down marginally from the prior-year comparable period. The Hartford continued its capital deployment efforts during the quarter, returning $615 million to shareholders. The company repurchased $450 million of shares and paid $165 million in common stock dividends. The board also authorized a new $4.2 billion share repurchase program effective Aug. 1, 2026, through the end of 2028. This authorization represents a 27% increase from the previous program. The company generated a trailing 12-month core earnings return on equity of 18.7%, which improved 270 basis points year over year. The Hartford currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Of the insurance industry players that have reported second-quarter 2026 results so far, the bottom-line results of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR, Chubb Limited CB and First American Financial Corporation FAF beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. RenaissanceRe reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $12.92 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.9%.  The bottom line also improved 5.1% year over year. Total operating revenues declined 6.7% year over year to $2.64 billion. The top line missed the consensus mark by 1%. Net premiums earned declined 8.8% year over year to $2.2 billion. Net investment income of $432.5 million advanced 4.7% year over year in the quarter. RenaissanceRe's underwriting income declined 0.4% year over year to $599.1 million. The combined ratio improved to 72.8% from 75.1% in the year-ago quarter. The Property segment’s net premiums earned of $881.6 million increased 1.6% year over year. It generated an underwriting income of $642.7 million, which increased 2% year over year. The Casualty & Specialty Segment unit recorded net premiums earned of $1.3 billion, which tumbled 14.7% year over year to $1.32 billion. Chubb’s second-quarter 2026 core operating earnings of $7.26 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.63 by 9.5%. The bottom line increased 18.2% year over year. Revenues rose 2.7% year over year to $15.77 billion but missed the consensus mark of $15.90 billion by 0.8%. P&C underwriting income increased 18.8% year over year to $1.94 billion. The combined ratio improved 180 basis points to 83.8%. Consolidated net premiums written increased 3.6% year over year to $14.71 billion. Pre-tax net investment income increased 12.3% to a record $1.76 billion. Global P&C net premiums written, excluding agriculture, advanced 2.8% to $11.99 billion. Life insurance net premiums written grew 7.5% to $1.94 billion. North America Commercial P&C net premiums written declined 2.3% to $5.59 billion. Major accounts and specialty fell 9.0% as underwriting actions weighed on property business, while middle-market and small commercial premiums increased 8.9% to $2.34 billion. Overseas General Insurance net premiums written jumped 10.2% to $3.99 billion, or 4.8% in constant dollars. First American Financial reported second-quarter 2026 operating earnings of $2.08 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 15.6% and rose 35.9% year over year. Operating revenues climbed 15% to $2.1 billion. The top line surpassed the consensus estimate by 4.4%. Direct premiums and escrow fees reached $794.1 million, marking a 14.8% increase from the prior-year level. Investment income totaled $183.7 million in the second quarter, up 14.7% year over year. In the Title Insurance and Services unit, total revenues rose 16.9% year over year to $2 billion. Investment income increased 11% to $164 million. Adjusted pretax margin expanded 310 bps to 15.7%. Title open orders increased 0.7% to 188,200, while closed orders declined 0.7% to 137,300. Average revenue per direct title order increased to $4,572, reflecting a 31% increase in commercial average revenue per order. In the Home Warranty segment, total revenues rose 3.3% to $113.8 million, exceeding our model estimate of $111 million. Pretax income climbed 8.5% year over year to $24.2 million. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. (HIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Chubb Limited (CB) : Free Stock Analysis Report RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (RNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report First American Financial Corporation (FAF) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-07-24

The Hartford Insurance Group Inc (HIG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Core Earnings ...

GuruFocus.com
This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Core Earnings: $945 million or $3.42 per diluted share. Core Earnings ROE: 18.7% over the trailing 12 months. Book Value per Share (excluding AOCI): $78.91, increased 7% from year-end and 15% from a year ago. Business Insurance Written Premium Growth: 5% with an underlying combined ratio of 89.3%. Small Business Written Premium Growth: 7% with an underlying combined ratio of 86.5%. Middle & Large Business Written Premium Growth: 4% with an underlying combined ratio of 95.3%. Global Specialties Written Premium Growth: 4% with an underlying combined ratio of 85.8%. Personal Insurance Core Earnings: $128 million with an underlying combined ratio of 86.3%. Personal Insurance Written Premium Decline: 7% overall, with a 10% decline in auto and flat growth in home. Employee Benefits Core Earnings: $139 million with a core earnings margin of 7.4%. Net Investment Income: $800 million, up 22% from the second quarter of 2025. Share Repurchase Authorization: New authorization of $4.2 billion, effective through December 2028. Quarterly Share Repurchases: 3.4 million shares for $450 million, with plans to increase to $475 million per quarter for the remainder of 2026. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with HIG. Is HIG fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: July 24, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. The Hartford Insurance Group Inc (NYSE:HIG) reported strong core earnings of $945 million, with a core earnings ROE of 18.7% over the trailing 12 months. The company announced a new share repurchase authorization of $4.2 billion, reflecting strong capital generation and expected cash proceeds from the sale of Hartford Funds. Business Insurance delivered strong written premium growth of 5% with an underlying combined ratio of 89.3%, showcasing excellent execution and underwriting discipline. Employee Benefits experienced strong premium growth with a core earnings margin of 7.4%, driven by excellent life and solid disability results. Investments in automation and digital services have enhanced underwriting effectiveness and improved productivity, positioning the company well for future growth. Personal Insurance saw a decline in written premium by 7%, with a 10% decline in auto, impacted by a competitive market. Genera…Read full document

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Core Earnings: $945 million or $3.42 per diluted share. Core Earnings ROE: 18.7% over the trailing 12 months. Book Value per Share (excluding AOCI): $78.91, increased 7% from year-end and 15% from a year ago. Business Insurance Written Premium Growth: 5% with an underlying combined ratio of 89.3%. Small Business Written Premium Growth: 7% with an underlying combined ratio of 86.5%. Middle & Large Business Written Premium Growth: 4% with an underlying combined ratio of 95.3%. Global Specialties Written Premium Growth: 4% with an underlying combined ratio of 85.8%. Personal Insurance Core Earnings: $128 million with an underlying combined ratio of 86.3%. Personal Insurance Written Premium Decline: 7% overall, with a 10% decline in auto and flat growth in home. Employee Benefits Core Earnings: $139 million with a core earnings margin of 7.4%. Net Investment Income: $800 million, up 22% from the second quarter of 2025. Share Repurchase Authorization: New authorization of $4.2 billion, effective through December 2028. Quarterly Share Repurchases: 3.4 million shares for $450 million, with plans to increase to $475 million per quarter for the remainder of 2026. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with HIG. Is HIG fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: July 24, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. The Hartford Insurance Group Inc (NYSE:HIG) reported strong core earnings of $945 million, with a core earnings ROE of 18.7% over the trailing 12 months. The company announced a new share repurchase authorization of $4.2 billion, reflecting strong capital generation and expected cash proceeds from the sale of Hartford Funds. Business Insurance delivered strong written premium growth of 5% with an underlying combined ratio of 89.3%, showcasing excellent execution and underwriting discipline. Employee Benefits experienced strong premium growth with a core earnings margin of 7.4%, driven by excellent life and solid disability results. Investments in automation and digital services have enhanced underwriting effectiveness and improved productivity, positioning the company well for future growth. Personal Insurance saw a decline in written premium by 7%, with a 10% decline in auto, impacted by a competitive market. General liability reserves were increased due to a higher frequency of large losses in excess casualty and umbrella lines. Commercial auto liability reserves were increased due to adverse loss development, driven by higher severity than previously estimated. The Personal Insurance expense ratio increased from 25.1% to 26.3%, primarily due to lower earned premiums and higher commissions. The company faces increasing competition in the middle and large commercial space, which could impact growth in the second half of the year. Q: Could you share thoughts on the reserve development in workers' comp, general liability, and commercial auto? Is this a one-time issue or something that could become chronic? A: Christopher Swift, CEO: Loss reserving is both science and art, and we've had great stability over time. This quarter required some changes. Beth Costello, CFO: We increased general liability reserves by $46 million due to elevated large loss activity across multiple accident years. In commercial auto, we saw more attorney involvement in accidents, leading to higher frequency of large losses. Workers' comp continues to show favorability. Q: The group disability loss ratio increased significantly. Is this in line with long-term expectations, and do you expect it to rise over time? A: Christopher Swift, CEO: The business has been a strong performer, often exceeding expectations. We maintain a 6% to 7% long-term margin view. Mike Fish, Head of Employee Benefits: The loss ratio for disability is affected by higher incidents and behavioral health claims. We are seeing higher utilization in paid family medical leave, but we feel good about our pricing. Q: Can you unpack the underlying loss ratio in commercial lines, particularly the impact of fire losses? A: Beth Costello, CFO: Non-CAT property was a significant contributor to performance year-to-year. We expect the full year to come in roughly a point better than the year-to-date underlying combined ratio of 93.3, assuming non-CAT property evens out. Q: Is there any change to expected forward loss trends, especially in casualty lines? A: Beth Costello, CFO: There is a very minor impact on loss trends. We always review current year trends when there is prior year development, but it did not significantly impact our view. Q: How do you view the competitive environment in commercial lines, particularly regarding pricing stability? A: Christopher Swift, CEO: The market is holding up well, with strong pricing in commercial auto and general liability. Property pricing is moderating but remains profitable. We are executing well, achieving attractive risk-adjusted returns. Q: Can you discuss the capital management strategy in light of The Hartford Funds transaction? A: Christopher Swift, CEO: Monetizing the non-core investment was a priority. The transaction allows us to participate in the upside with Wellington Management. Beth Costello, CFO: The new share repurchase authorization reflects proceeds from the transaction and business growth. Q: How are you approaching AI efficiencies, particularly in claims and underwriting? A: Christopher Swift, CEO: We focus on underwriting operations, customer-facing activities, and claims. Mo Tooker, Head of Commercial Lines: We have exciting use cases in claims and underwriting, which we believe will improve LAE and expense ratios. Q: What is your current view on M&A given the increased buyback program? A: Christopher Swift, CEO: We are aware of market activities but are committed to organic growth. We focus on investing in new products, capabilities, and expanding underwriting appetite. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

TranscriptFY2026 Q22026-07-24

FY2026 Q2 earnings call transcript

Earnings source - 105 paragraphs
Operator

Thank you for joining us, and welcome to The Hartford second quarter 2026 financial results webcast. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Kate Jorens, Senior Vice President, Treasurer, and Head of Investor Relations. Kate, please go ahead.

Kate Jorens

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for The Hartford second quarter 2026 earnings call and webcast. Yesterday, we reported results and posted all earnings related materials on our website. Before we begin, please note that our presentation includes forward-looking statements, which are not guarantees of future performance and may differ materially from actual results. We do not assume any obligation to update these statements. Investors should consider the risks and uncertainties detailed in our recent SEC filings, news release, and financial supplement, which are available on the investor relations section of thehartford.com. Our commentary includes non-GAAP financial measures with explanations and GAAP reconciliations available in our recent SEC filings, news release, and financial supplement. Now I'd like to introduce our speakers, Chris Swift, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Beth Costello, Chief Financial Officer.

Kate Jorens

After their remarks, we will take your questions, assisted by several members of our management team. Now I'll turn the call over to Chris.

Chris Swift

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. The Hartford delivered another quarter of strong results reflecting the strength of our franchise, the depth of our distribution relationships, and our commitment to a superior customer experience. Supported by market leading positions and differentiated capabilities across property and casualty and Employee Benefits, The Hartford remains well-positioned to continue delivering outstanding returns. During the quarter, we announced an agreement to sell Hartford Funds to Wellington Management, strategically monetizing a non-core long-term investment. I'm also pleased to announce that our board of directors approved a new share repurchase authorization of $4.2 billion, reflecting strong capital generation from our businesses, as well as expected cash proceeds from the Hartford Funds sale. We will continue to balance growth, investing in our businesses, and returning excess capital to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. Now let me share a few details from the quarter.

Chris Swift

Business Insurance delivered strong written premium growth of 5% with an underlying combined ratio of 89.3. In Personal Insurance, the underlying combined ratio improved 1.7 points year-over-year, with growth impacted by a competitive market. Employee Benefits had another quarter of strong premium growth with a core earnings margin of 7.4%. The investment portfolio continued to generate strong net investment income. All these factors contributed to core earnings of $945 million, and an outstanding core earnings ROE of 18.7% over the trailing 12 months. Let's take a closer look at second quarter performance. Business Insurance delivered another strong quarter, reflecting excellent execution across our portfolio. The current market conditions highlight the importance of underwriting discipline, pricing rigor, and risk selection, areas where we continue to differentiate ourselves.

Chris Swift

This was evident in our performance during the quarter as we continue to outpace the market in Small Business while remaining disciplined and selective across Middle and Large and specialty lines, demonstrating our ability to perform well across cycles. Small Business results were excellent with written premium growth of 7% and an underlying combined ratio of 86.5. Growth was driven by double-digit increases in both package and E&S binding. Our investments in automation and digital service, which have driven speed, ease, and accuracy of quoting, also position us well as wholesale and retail brokers seek to consolidate business with a smaller number of underwriting partners. These market leading capabilities will continue to drive meaningful growth in 2026 and beyond.

Chris Swift

Moving to Middle and Large, written premium growth was solid at 4% with an underlying combined ratio of 95.3, which included normal quarter-to-quarter volatility in non-CAT property losses. The team remains focused on disciplined underwriting and selecting opportunities that deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns in an increasingly competitive environment. We continue to invest in AI-enabled capabilities that enhance underwriting effectiveness by providing faster access to risk insights directly in our underwriting workflows. For example, in Middle and Large, early results are encouraging with underwriting activities being completed in a fraction of the time

Chris Swift

Increasing productivity and enabling underwriters to spend more time expanding agent and broker relationships to drive increased submission flow. Our underwriters continue to own the decision, leveraging AI-enabled capabilities that provide deeper insights and enhance underwriting consistency. Turning to Global Specialty, underlying margins remain strong in the mid-80s, demonstrating disciplined underwriting and active portfolio management. Written premium growth of 4% reflected continued momentum across several lines of business, led by wholesale excess casualty and auto, bond, and financial lines. Market conditions vary across businesses, and we remain focused on deploying capital where we see attractive risk-adjusted returns. The breadth of our Global Specialty platform and underwriting capabilities enables us to adjust to changing market conditions and pursue profitable growth across the portfolio. Turning to pricing, Business Insurance renewal written pricing, excluding workers' compensation, remained relatively consistent at 5.8% in the quarter.

Chris Swift

Pricing in commercial auto and general liability remained strong and above loss trend, with umbrella and excess achieving some of the highest rate increases across the portfolio. Property continues to remain highly profitable and an attractive area for growth, though pricing moderated during the quarter, driven primarily by large property. Importantly, aggregate property pricing for Small Business package and middle market general industries remained fairly steady in the mid-single digits. Shifting to Personal Insurance, the underlying combined ratio was strong at 86.3. In auto, the underlying combined ratio improved 1.9 points year-over-year as earned pricing continues to exceed loss trend. Home results remained strong, supported by consistent underwriting execution and low double-digit pricing. Competition for new business remained elevated and continued to impact growth. Within agency, following our July rollout, our contemporary product offering is now available in 23 states and progressing as planned.

Chris Swift

In direct, with the AARP relationship, we are focused on strengthening customer acquisition and retention. Across Personal Insurance, we continue to invest in strategic capabilities required to compete effectively and sustainably, including competitive pricing, seamless customer experiences, and products and services targeting the mature market. Before moving on to Employee Benefits, I'd like to briefly touch upon our annual P&C Agent Summit held in May. Discussions with key distribution partners reinforced The Hartford's differentiated claims and risk engineering capabilities. A key theme at the summit was the importance of risk mitigation as customers increasingly look for insights and expertise to help prevent losses. Our focus is on practical, scalable solutions that help customers operate more safely. By combining claims insights, risk engineering expertise, and technology-enabled tools, we help customers identify risk earlier, take action sooner, and improve outcomes over time.

Chris Swift

Moving on to Employee Benefits, core earnings margin of 7.4% was driven by excellent life and solid disability results. We were pleased with another strong quarter of fully insured premium growth, benefiting from excellent sales execution, persistency in the low 90s, and continued investments in technology. We were able to achieve these results while maintaining our pricing and underwriting discipline. Demand for solutions that help improve workforce productivity and simplify absence and leave management remains high. We believe our integrated benefits platform differentiates us in the market and together, with strong persistency and disciplined execution, positions Employee Benefits to continue generating attractive growth and margins. In closing, second quarter results demonstrate continued momentum and execution of our strategy. In Business Insurance, a diversified portfolio, strong distribution relationships, disciplined underwriting, and technology-enabled execution continue to drive profitable growth at attractive returns.

Chris Swift

In Personal Insurance, our focus remains on thoughtful market share expansion, supported by continued progress in the agency channel. Employee Benefits remains a high-quality, accretive business where our leadership in absence and leave positions us well at the large end of the market, and our ongoing investments will enable us to extend those capabilities to more small and midsize customers. Investment income remained strong, supported by a diversified and durable portfolio. With another strong quarter, I am confident in The Hartford's ability to continue delivering outstanding ROEs and attractive returns for our shareholders. Now, let me turn the call over to Beth to provide more detailed commentary on the quarter.

Beth Costello

Thank you, Chris. Core earnings for the quarter were $945 million, or $3.42 for diluted share, with a trailing 12-month core earnings ROE of 18.7%. Book value per share, excluding AOCI, of $78.91, increased 7% from year-end and 15% from a year ago, reflecting the earnings power of our businesses and disciplined approach to capital management. In Business Insurance, core earnings were $695 million, with written premium growth of 5% and an underlying combined ratio of 89.3. Small Business continues to deliver excellent results, with written premium growth of 7% and an underlying combined ratio of 86.5. The underlying combined ratio improved 2.5 points from the prior year, primarily due to lower non-CAT property losses and improved operating leverage. Middle and Large business had a solid quarter, with written premium growth of 4% and an underlying combined ratio of 95.3.

Beth Costello

Underlying results include elevated non-CAT property losses due to a few large fire losses and a shift in business mix towards National Accounts and commercial auto. Global Specialty's second quarter was strong, with written premium growth of 4% and an underlying combined ratio of 85.8. The underlying combined ratio increased from the prior year, primarily due to an increase in the international loss ratio and a higher expense ratio driven by technology costs. The Business Insurance expense ratio of 30.7 was generally consistent with the prior year and in line with our expectations. We remain on track to achieve our 2027 year-end targets. In Personal Insurance, core earnings were $128 million, with an underlying combined ratio of 86.3. The underlying combined ratio improved 1.7 points in the quarter, with improvement in the underlying loss and loss adjustment expense ratio in both auto and home.

Beth Costello

The Personal Insurance expense ratio of 26.3 increased from 25.1 in second quarter 2025, primarily driven by the impact of lower earned premiums and higher commissions due to an increasing mix of agency business. Written premium in Personal Insurance declined 7%, with a 10% decline in auto and flat growth in home. Agency growth remained strong at 7% over the prior year. Renewal written pricing increases were 5.5% in auto and 10.4% in home, and effective policy count retention improved slightly in auto and remained relatively stable in home. Turning to reserves, favorable prior year development was driven by reserve reductions in workers' compensation, catastrophes, bond, and Personal Insurance, partially offset by an increase in general liability and commercial auto liability reserves. General liability reserves were increased in the quarter primarily to reflect a higher frequency of large losses in excess casualty and umbrella lines across multiple accident years.

Beth Costello

Commercial auto liability reserves were increased primarily due to adverse loss development within accident years 2023 and 2024, driven by higher severity than previously estimated. This activity reflects increasing attorney representation and time limit demands, which have been incorporated into our reserve estimates. With respect to catastrophes, P&C current accident year losses were $222 million before tax, up from $212 million in the prior year, while the catastrophe ratio remained unchanged at 4.9 combined ratio points. Moving to Employee Benefits, core earnings of $139 million and a core earnings margin of 7.4% reflect excellent group life and solid disability performance. The group life loss ratio of 74.2% was relatively flat to the prior year, and the group disability loss ratio of 74.8% increased by 6.3 points. Disability results were partially driven by increased claim incidents across short and long-term disability.

Beth Costello

In addition, long-term disability claim recoveries were in line with long-term expectations, although were less favorable than the prior year, which benefited from particularly strong recoveries. The Employee Benefits expense ratio of 25.2 improved 0.5 points compared with 25.7 in second quarter 2025, driven by the impact of earned premium growth and a lower commission ratio, partially offset by higher technology costs. Turning to investments, our diversified portfolio delivered strong results in the second quarter. Net investment income was $800 million, up $142 million or 22% from the second quarter of 2025 driven by higher income from limited partnerships and other alternative investments and a higher level of invested assets. Excluding limited partnerships, the annualized portfolio yield was 4.7% before tax, up 20 basis points from the first quarter. We continue to strategically manage the portfolio, balancing risk and pursuing accretive trading opportunities.

Beth Costello

Annualized limited partnership returns were 7.6% before tax, up from 5.1% in the first quarter. Results benefited from multiple real estate joint venture sales and strong performance from infrastructure and energy transition funds. Looking ahead to the second half of 2026, we expect limited partnership returns to remain generally consistent with the average annualized return achieved in the first half of the year, although further geopolitical and economic volatility could affect results. For full year 2026, given the current market conditions, we continue to expect net investment income to increase, supported by growth in invested assets with overall portfolio yields expected to remain broadly in line with 2025. Yesterday, the board of directors approved a new share repurchase authorization of $4.2 billion effective through December 2028, reflecting the strong capital generation of our businesses, as well as expected cash proceeds from The Hartford Funds transaction.

Beth Costello

This authorization is in addition to the existing authorization, which as of June 30th, had approximately $650 million remaining. During the quarter, we repurchased 3.4 million shares for $450 million. We expect to increase our quarterly repurchases to $475 million through the remainder of 2026. In summary, we are very pleased with our strong performance for the second quarter and believe we are well-positioned to continue to enhance value for our stakeholders. I will now turn the call back to Kate.

Kate Jorens

Thank you, Beth. We will now take your questions. Operator, please repeat the instructions for asking a question.

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Andrew Kligerman with TD Cowen. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Andrew Kligerman

Hey, thanks. Good morning, everyone. I appreciated the granularity in the queue on loss reserve development and Beth's additional remarks about more frequency in GL and severity in commercial auto. I'd like to just zero in on three numbers in that table. The $110 million favorable in workers' comp, the $116 million adverse in general liability, and the $26 million in commercial auto. Could you share some thoughts on whether you feel this is a one-time or it's something that could become chronic? How are you thinking about these lines and the reserve adequacy going forward?

Chris Swift

Andrew, it's Chris. Thanks for your question. Appreciate your commentary on transparency and granularity. I think as you know, loss reserving is both a science and art. I think we've combined them pretty well over a long-term period and have had great stability. This quarter required some changes. I'll let Beth just give a little bit more color on what drove some of those changes.

Beth Costello

Sure. Again, the numbers that you're referring to, Andrew, I think as you know, are six-month numbers. The numbers for the quarter, a bit smaller than that. If I start with general liability, again, there we increased prior year reserves by $46 million. Again, as it says in the commentary, that was across multiple accident years. We saw some elevated large loss activity. These are lines that we want to be very cautious about. We reacted to that. I think a very modest increase when you think about the reserve base being a little bit under $6.5 billion. Commercial auto, there we saw activity in more recent years. Again, higher frequency of large losses. Really what we're seeing there is more attorney involvement in accidents that in the past would've probably been more minor in nature and minor injuries.

Beth Costello

looked at that and made the adjustments that you referenced. On workers' comp, we continue to see favorability there. We look at those reserves every quarter. I don't like predictions about the future, but the underlying book as it relates to prior years continues to perform very well.

Andrew Kligerman

Excellent. Very helpful. Kind of along the same lines with the Employee Benefits business, zeroing in on the group disability loss ratio at 74.8%, which was up a fair amount year-over-year. You made the comment, I think, on this call and then in the release that it's in line with long-term expectations. We're hearing a little bit about some of your competitors and seeing that line kind of tick up as well.

Andrew Kligerman

Do you think it kind of stays in line with your target, or do you think this is something that's going to start driving up over time? Maybe share a little bit on the backdrop, what you're seeing in that product area from a loss standpoint.

Chris Swift

Thanks for the question again, Andrew. I'll start and just give some context and sort of my views, then I'd ask Mike Fish to add his. This is a very good business for us. It's been a strong performer over a long period of time, and you could actually make the argument that its performance over the last couple of years probably exceeded expectations and was sort of at the high end of expectations. Our 6%-7% long-term margin has always been the view, and as I said, we've outperformed it of late. Through the first six months of this year, we're still operating at the high end of that margin, although down a little bit from prior years.

Chris Swift

I don't think there's anything fundamentally changing of the business other than when you're dealing particularly with National Accounts and big employers, some of that favorability has been reflected back in pricing, and how that works its way through the P&L is a higher generally current accident year loss ratio that's really still in pick. We haven't come out from any actual experience because a lot of these policies have six months of seasoning required before we'll make any adjustments. Obviously there's generally some lower prior year development because you're picking the initial loss ratio closer to the expected long-term trend. That's maybe too much technical on sort of the nuts and bolts, but I think the key message, at least from my perspective, is it is still performing within expectations. We always look hard at pricing on cycles. Generally, these are still three-year policies.

Chris Swift

Mike will probably comment upon LTD, STD, and paid family leave, some of the incidents that we're seeing there. It's a business we still like, and at that 6%-7% margin, we're still generating 15-plus tangible ROEs.

Mike Fish

Andrew, I would just add that in the loss ratio for disability, think about half of that premium is long-term disability. The remainder is in the short tail lines, including PFML. As Chris noted for LTD specifically in the quarter, again, recoveries very pleased with the overall results continue to be a bit above our pricing expectations. Just on a quarter-over-quarter basis from 2Q 2025, you saw, and we talked about a little bit of a decline there in recoveries, and we'll continue to monitor that. I would say on the shorter tail lines, again, we're seeing higher incidents in the quarter and on a year-to-date basis, a bit coming through across all diagnoses, although behavioral health claims are up a bit relative to the other claims, and those claims tend to have a bit more severity in those short tail lines, like short-term disability.

Mike Fish

Again, we're sort of seeing a bit of that develop. Lastly, paid family medical leave, PFML, we talked about that last quarter. In the year-to-date results from a sales and premium perspective, we're benefiting on the top line with three new states coming online. As I talked about last quarter, we do see higher utilization in the early periods when new states go live. We're seeing that a bit, I would also add we're seeing utilization up in the states that have been out in force for a number of years. As we've talked about, we'll continue to put rate on top of that book and we'll see where that develops. Again, we feel really good in general about where our pricing is coming in total.

Andrew Kligerman

Very helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Meredith with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Brian Meredith

Hey, thanks. Chris and Beth, I'm just curious, is it possible to unpack the underlying loss ratio in commercial lines a little bit? Maybe give us what the impact of the fire loss were year-over-year so we can get kind of a baseline what the actual underlying kind of loss ratio deterioration was in the quarter.

Chris Swift

Yeah. Beth, you want to break that down?

Beth Costello

Yeah. I'm not going to go into all the puts and takes that are within that line. As we said, non-CAT property was a significant contributor to the performance kind of year-to-year. Maybe the way to help you frame it, Brian, is that if I look at MLC and their year-to-date underlying combined ratio of 93.3 I think about what we expect for the second half of the year, and assuming non-CAT property kind of evens out a bit, would expect the full year to probably come in roughly a point better than that. Gives you some sense of just some of the elevation that we see kind of in the first half that we wouldn't expect to see in the second half.

Brian Meredith

Makes sense. Thanks. My second question, maybe it was just the way I heard it was a little confusing. Beth, I think you made a comment about the underlying loss ratio up because of more commercial auto and National Accounts in the mix. Have you been leaning more into the commercial auto area, or is that simply just higher losses coming in? If so, maybe it's a different area of commercial auto. I was a little confused about that.

Chris Swift

Brian, I'm going to let Mo answer that.

Morris Tooker

Brian, the commercial auto premium has been up. I wouldn't say it's a change in strategy. It's just been, I think, a way we add things up as just we bind business. The commercial auto premium was up in the first half of the year. The other piece that's in there is National Accounts, we've mixed a little bit more in Middle and Large towards our National Accounts. What I would just want to be clear on the National Accounts is our National Accounts business is a little bit different than some of our peers, I just want to make sure that everybody understands that, which is it's really adjacent to our Middle Market business, i.e., it's loss picks, less than $5 million.

Morris Tooker

We have an occasional account that gets up to $10 million, it really is our way to follow Middle Market customers into a loss sensitive structure. It does run at a higher combined ratio based on the excess casualty lines, we just end up booking a little bit higher.

Beth Costello

Yeah. I'll just to make a fine point on that. Again, it really is about the mixing to that business rather than a change in view of the loss trend for those particular lines.

Brian Meredith

Great. Makes sense. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Mike Zaremski with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Mike Zaremski

Okay, great. Just this is probably an easy yes or no based on what was just said, it sounds like there was no meaningful change to expected forward loss trend, especially in casualty lines, based on all the great color you gave in the Q on this call so far. Is that correct? That's impacting the underlying on a maybe forward basis that we should be considering? Thanks.

Beth Costello

Very minor impact. Obviously whenever we have prior year development, we always look at the more current years to see if that changes our view on loss trend, and we didn't call it out because it did not have a significant impact year-over-year. It's tenths of basis points.

Mike Zaremski

Perfect. I guess my follow-up's just kind of stepping back and thinking about the competitive environment in commercial lines specifically. I think there's a lot of focus on pricing, and we've seen a lot of competitors show their pricing KPIs decelerate. We're teasing out that it's more so or maybe only coming from the large account space. Can you maybe just talk about whether you all have been surprised by the stability in kind of the, especially on the smaller end in terms of pricing or, would you expect, given healthy returns and interest rates there to be a bit of a decel or downwards trend in the coming year? Thanks.

Chris Swift

Mike, it's Chris. I'm going to give you some data, at least on the quarter, that might help. I would say generally through the first six months of the year, there are really no surprises, obviously, other than the normal volatility that Beth just talked about in some of our non-CAT property exposure. I would say the market, at least the segments we participate in, active or in, are holding up fairly well. You could see what we've been able to do with commercial auto and general liability pricing, which we think we're strong there in keeping up with the loss trend, particularly with umbrella and excess, achieving some of the highest rates of increase across the portfolio. I would say property pricing continues to moderate. Again, still a highly profitable line for us and still an attractive area for growth.

Chris Swift

I think the metric I would give you there is that the aggregate pricing for Small Business package and middle market general industry property book was fairly steady in the mid-single digits on an aggregate basis. I gave my commentary on pricing in aggregate in Business Insurance at 5.8%, down 30 basis points from the first quarter, again, still an excellent result and our underwriters are really executing well in the marketplace. I would say again, specifically on general liability, we're at 9.9%, up 30 basis points from the last quarter. Excess and umbrella lines were still in the low double digit and improved 70 basis points from last quarter. If I look at small renewal written pricing of 7% was flat compared to the first quarter. Middle market ex-comp was down 130 basis points to 4.4%. With declines across most lines, still healthy in auto and GL.

Chris Swift

In Global Specialty, pricing improved 60 basis points to 5.5%. You put it all together, I'm still feeling good about our ability to execute, the ability to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns on individual accounts, and where we can't, we'll step away.

Mike Zaremski

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Gregory Peters with Raymond James. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Gregory Peters

Hey, good morning, everyone. I was going to pivot to the Personal Lines, I just can't help myself on the pricing commentary and the answers you've provided so far. Maybe you can help frame it for me in a different way, because the areas that have come under scrutiny are the really large property schedules, and I just don't think you have a lot of exposure in that area of the market. When I see the growth in your Middle and Large business, it's really not skewing to this area that's under a microscope for all the substantial rate decreases. Maybe you can help frame that for me.

Chris Swift

I think you framed it well. Our large property book is relatively small. It's about $200 million, would you say, Mo, on a full-year basis? Our E&S book, again, is relatively small, maybe $300. It's particularly in small commercial. Yeah, the activity in the markets where the most pressure is generally our smallest exposure and our Spectrum product, which is a Small Business product and our general industry properties are our two biggest lines. As I said Greg, we're holding in that mid-single digit range as far as price increases, which again, we think is keeping up with trend. We're probably not going to grow at the rate that we thought when we started the year, but I still think we can grow our overall property book in the mid-single digits through the end of the year. Mo, would you add anything?

Morris Tooker

Greg, let me just add a couple of points, just as evidence to Chris's point on the large property. We had a fairly substantial shared and layered book within our large property segment in Middle and Large. That's now less than $25 million. We really have shrunk that just because that is the part of the market, as you referenced, that is falling quicker. It just doesn't meet our benchmarks anymore. The second thing I would point to is we are watching the Middle and Large space really closely. Yes, the large end is where we see the most competition, but we did feel increasing pressure in the second quarter and potentially a divergent view from some of our competitors, especially on GL and workers' compensation. We've always talked about our middle market book being subject to market conditions.

Morris Tooker

We're watching closely in that space because we did feel the competition pick up in that space, and that will impact our growth in the second half of the year if that competitive pressure maintains.

Gregory Peters

Thank you for indulging me on that topic, and I appreciate the detail. Let's pivot to the personal lines business. Obviously, that's a pretty intense marketplace. It looks like your agency business is doing fine. The direct business might be a little challenged. Chris, I think you mentioned the contemporary product offering that's rolling out. As we look forward, maybe you can help reconcile how we should be thinking about growth in the context of just the intensity of competition in the market.

Chris Swift

Yeah. I'll let Melinda add her commentary, I would say generally, we're trying to complete the rollout of agency as quickly as we can. We expect to be in 30 states by the beginning, early 2027. We feel good about that, and that's, again, the same product we're using in the direct channel. I would say, the direct channel, I think is going to continue to come under pressure. I think shopping's going to remain elevated. Obviously, competition is going to remain strong, again, we're going to continue to try to improve retention, improve obviously, the customer experience and see if there is some value added that we could create for the mature market. I would say, we expect a little bit of headwinds, particularly in direct as we head into 2027. Melinda, I don't know, what would you add?

Melinda Thompson

I think you summed it up very well, Chris. We certainly want to find and win and keep more customers. All three components of that important in our growth strategy, we want to do that while we maintain our target profitability, it will be bifurcated, I would say, near term in the channel dynamics. We're very encouraged by everything we are seeing on the agency side, very strong execution by our teams and excellent progress toward our long-term growth objectives.

Chris Swift

Greg, it goes without saying.

Gregory Peters

Thanks

Chris Swift

Obviously auto has a story, home has a unique story, too, where home, I think, is performing well. We've been able to continue to get rate in that book to keep up with trend. For the agency channel, having a competitive home product is going to be very important. We feel good about how we're positioned.

Gregory Peters

Yep. Great. Thanks.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Scott with Barclays. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Alex Scott

Hey, good morning. Wanted to see if you could dig a bit more into the capital management strategy, just in light of the Hartford Funds transaction and some flexibility, but obviously coming in over time and just how you approach replacing the dilution initially from that transaction.

Chris Swift

I'll let Beth talk to the specifics of the capital management plan that we just announced. I'd just like to make a comment, so that everyone sort of understands my views. That monetizing this long-term held investment, non-core investment, I thought was a priority over the last couple of years, just given the changing dynamics in the asset management wealth business. Obviously, we've enjoyed a 40-year relationship with Wellington, and I think combining with Wellington capabilities with our distribution platform, I think is just going to be a added benefit to continue to reach more clients through various channels with differentiated investment capabilities, particularly in the wealth management market here in the U.S. I thought it was an excellent transaction, structured uniquely, which really allows us to participate in the upside as the two combined organizations come together and, I think, create additional value in the marketplace.

Chris Swift

Beth, what would you say on the capital management?

Beth Costello

We obviously took the expected proceeds over the next couple of years from the funds transaction into consideration in sizing our new share repurchase authorization. Again, remind you that our previous one was at $3.3 billion, so this is a $900 million increase or 27% increase over the prior authorization. The way I think about that is about 15% comes from the cash that we're getting from Hartford Funds above sort of what we would normally have received from Hartford Funds. I think you have to keep in mind that with the $3.3 billion authorization, there were dividends that we were already getting from Hartford Funds. When we think about the incremental, put that towards the authorization, and then the remaining 12% coming from the growth in our business.

Beth Costello

I think it's a nice balance, and obviously as the combined entity performs over the next several years, we'll continue to see those cash flows and view it as excess capital to be deployed.

Alex Scott

Thank you. Follow-up question. I just wanted to circle back on prior year development. If I go back and think about 2023 and 2024, there was sort of a consistency, if you will, to some of the unfavorable in the lines that you took unfavorable on this quarter. Is there anything different about this time? I think it was some underlying drivers like attorney representation. Is there anything about the review you did this quarter that we should think about being different from the way it was being reviewed in 2023 and 2024?

Beth Costello

No, I wouldn't call out anything being different. We look at our reserves every quarter, and as we saw, as I said earlier, some of this elevated activity in GL, primarily in our excess and umbrella lines, we felt was appropriate to make some modest adjustments. On commercial auto, same thing as we saw some trends there that we felt we should reflect. Nothing that changes overall how we look at the reserves, the review that we do, the very tight alignment that we have between our claims teams, our actuarial teams, and then most importantly, our underwriters to understand what's being seen. As Chris said, we feel very good about the pricing that we're getting in those lines. Feel very good about all the underwriting actions that we've taken over the past many years in that.

Beth Costello

Feel good about where we are as we end the quarter.

Alex Scott

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Katie Sakys with Autonomous Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Katie Sakys

Thanks. Good morning. I wanted to circle back to your comments, Beth, on the expense ratio. I think you mentioned in your prepared remarks you expect to still be able to hit exit year 2027 guidance. Last quarter, I think you guys had talked about seeing some opportunity for incremental improvement in the expense ratios across the three Business Segments here in 2026. Do you still have a line of sight on that?

Chris Swift

Katie, thank you for the question. I would just rephrase your commentary a little bit. We're not providing guidance. These are goals that we've set for the organization. We're not in the guidance game. As we sit here today, as I said in my prepared remarks, I think we'll see improvement in 2026, and I continue to be optimistic in Business Insurance and Employee Benefits of hitting the goals that we set for ourselves. I would say there is increasing pressure in Personal Insurance to hit the goals there. We're not giving up, that is I would say a substantially higher bar to achieve right now, just given growth dynamics, competitive marketplace. I know Melinda and team are not giving up, and we'll see what we could do. I would say that's my update for the quarter.

Katie Sakys

I appreciate the color there. Thank you. I wanted to shift to small commercial. I think the growth there continues to impress. Given some of the commentary from some of your competitors about identifying better growth opportunities further down market, curious to see how you guys are thinking about competition there and the trends from increased activity from either traditional carriers or maybe some more technology-enabled entrants.

Chris Swift

Yeah. I'll let Mo add his color. I would say, Katie, remember, I think we're in a competitive market across all our lines. Of all our lines, I'm most impressed, most proud of our capabilities that are differentiated in the marketplace in small commercial that I think will allow us to continue to capture additional market share. Mo, I know you and I talk about things quite a bit.

Morris Tooker

Yeah.

Chris Swift

What would you say?

Morris Tooker

Katie, just to build on Chris's comments with a little bit more granularity, flow for our Small Business team in both the retail and the wholesale channels remains really strong. Chris referenced our growth in Spectrum. He referenced our growth in E&S binding. The technology and the advantages we have with the retail brokers, and Chris mentioned the session we had with our VIP brokers in May, we continue to get incredible feedback about the differentiated experience that these agents enjoy when they use our technology and how much efficiency it creates for them. Yes, there's lots of competition, but I really feel confident about our ability to maintain margins and grow at a similar pace going forward here, just based on all the capabilities and the feedback we're getting today.

Katie Sakys

Great to hear. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of David Motemaden with Evercore ISI. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

David Motemaden

Hey, thanks. Good morning. Just following up on the adverse development in general liability this quarter. Was wondering if you could just talk a little bit more about the accident year mix. I know you said multiple accident years. Just wondering specifically if you could just talk about which accident years primarily were impacted, and if you had added any to accident year 2025.

Beth Costello

Yeah. It is multiple years. If you go back, we saw some activity in 2017, 2018, 2019 a little bit, and also in 2022, 2023. We did not add anything to 2025. It really was spread across. Again, focused on excess and umbrella lines as I said in my previous remarks.

David Motemaden

Got it. Thank you. Beth, last year, I think you had spoken about having about one point better than expected non-CAT property experience within the loss ratio in BI, and it sounds like it was elevated this quarter. I just wanted to be clear, was it elevated but also worse than expected this quarter? How should we think about just that one point of favorable non-CAT property experience within the loss ratio? Is that going to normalize? Is that potentially more durable just because of changes in terms and conditions? Just wondering how you're thinking about that going forward.

Beth Costello

Yeah. I would say, David, it really does move a bit quarter to quarter. I would say, overall for this quarter to expectations, non-CAT property came in a little bit under what we would have anticipated. Again, favorable in small, unfavorable in middle to net unfavorable affecting the overall Business Insurance ratio. It's hard to predict what the points of improvement could be quarter to quarter because there is just inherent some volatility. As I indicated, it pointed to a couple of large fire losses in Middle and Large this quarter that contributed to that. Nothing that we see in our underwriting that would say that these weren't good risks for us to place. That's why we say there's some just normal volatility.

Beth Costello

It's also why I provided in a response to an earlier question some of our views on how we think MLC could end the year based on things kind of returning to more normal.

David Motemaden

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Elyse Greenspan with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Elyse Greenspan

Hi. Thanks. Good morning. My first question, we heard one of your peers in the quarter talking about an LAE improvement, right? Just driven off of some AI and some claims-driven efficiencies that did benefit their commercial lines' underlying loss ratio. I just wanted to get a sense how you guys are thinking about AI efficiencies and the potential to benefit you guys on the LAE side.

Chris Swift

Yeah, I would say, Elyse, just to remind you again, the big areas that we're sort of focused with our AI initiatives, building on our, I'll call it our strong, excellent platform, is underwriting operations, which we define as customer-facing activities, call centers, billing, auto premiums, and claims. Claims has some, I would say, Mo, some exciting activities they're exploring, whether it be a sort of custom-built AI or some vendor-related activities. That is an area of focus for us to get more efficient and ultimately, just better outcomes in total. Mo, what would you add?

Morris Tooker

Yeah, Elyse, I would just add that we've got some really exciting use cases. We haven't disclosed any KPIs on either the claims or the underwriting side, and we won't today. Just trust that we are making significant investments in all three areas that Chris referenced, and we think that that will improve LAE and expense ratios generally.

Elyse Greenspan

Thanks. My follow-up question, just going back to the capital discussion. You guys obviously upped the buyback today, and we did see the funds transaction. That does give you more capital. It sounds like given the increase in the buyback program, there's probably less of a focus on M&A right now. Chris, would just be great to get your current views there.

Chris Swift

Yeah. I would say, obviously, you saw what we were planning to do for the next two years. As we've always commented, we're aware of marketplace activities. We're equally committed to an organic plan. We think that's ultimately a safer way to grow and protect margins and manage. We're aware, and there's nothing obviously to announce today. Again, we'd like to grow organically and invest in new products, new capabilities, expanding our underwriting appetite, and that's what I would say our primary focus is.

Elyse Greenspan

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Rob Cox with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Rob Cox

Hey, good morning. Thanks for fitting me in here. I just wanted to ask about retention in the Middle and Large commercial book. I noticed it slipped a little bit. Just curious if there's any pruning related to the GL and auto reserve additions that contributed to retention slipping, or if that is just more market-driven.

Morris Tooker

Rob, it's Mo. No, it's entirely market-driven. There was nothing specific that we were doing on GL or auto in the quarter. It's just the team making good decisions. It does reference back to a comment I made to a couple of questions ago, where we're just feeling an increasing competition in the Middle and Large space. As we've talked about for a number of quarters, we're going to continue to make choices and not grow if we see the competitive dynamic going too far. Those three points of retention would be evidence of that.

Rob Cox

Okay, great. That makes sense. Just following up on Global Specialty, pricing acceleration there in the quarter. Obviously, there's been widespread discussion on property, which it seems like there's not as much exposure to as peers. But just curious what's driving that. It seemed like maybe in the 10-Q, it was implied that it was U.S. wholesale potentially driving that acceleration.

Morris Tooker

Rob, it's Mo again. I would say a couple of things. We have less negative rates internationally. We've got a fairly large book of financial lines in our Lloyd's Syndicate, which was less negative, which is helping us out there. Similarly, our financial lines book improved the rate. It was positive, moderately positive. It's moving slightly more positive, so that's helping the mix in that rate calculation. Then wholesale overall, our rate on the entire wholesale book ticked up nicely, and it's an important one, just as we watch the complexity of that book and making sure we're getting adequate rates on our wholesale book in the entire Global Specialty portfolio.

Rob Cox

Thank you.

Operator

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I will now turn the call back to Kate Jorens for closing remarks.

Kate Jorens

Thanks for joining us today. As always, feel free to follow up with additional questions. Have a great day.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

As of 2026-08-29 • Updated weeklySource: Earnings sourceIngestion runbook