The Hartford Financial Services Group said its fourth-quarter profits fell about 2% as result of negative impacts of the pandemic on its group life insurance business.
For the October through December period, the property-casualty insurer posted net income of $532 million, or $1.47 per diluted share, down from $543 million or $1.49 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Results exceeded Wall Street expectations, according to Zacks Investment Research, whose analysts predicted earnings of $1.31 per share.
For the year, net income was reported at $1.7 billion, down 17% from the $2.1 billion posted for 2019.
“Our businesses showed strong performance in a challenging year as the benefit of strategic priorities were evident in our results. As we manage through the pandemic, continued execution on our initiatives will generate further improvement in results and enhance value for all of our stakeholders.” said Chairman and CEO Christopher Swift.
The COVID-19 pandemic hurt fourth-quarter earnings in part due to $152 million in “excess mortality in group life” before taxes. Pandemic “excess mortality” cost stockholders $239 million, before tax, for the year, according to the earnings report.
