Property-casualty insurer Travelers Cos., which has a major presence in downtown Hartford, on Thursday said its fourth-quarter profits jumped about 41% due, in part, to a significant drop in catastrophe losses.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, the New York-based insurer recorded net income of $873 million, or $3.35 a diluted share, up from $621 million, or $2.32 a share, in the year-ago period.
Travelers posted revenue of $8.06 billion in the quarter, up 3% from $7.79 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Travelers’ results beat Zacks Investment Research’s consensus earnings estimate of $3.23 per share.
The insurer said the higher-than-expected earnings were mostly driven by lower catastrophe losses, which improved from $610 million a year ago to $85 million in the final three months of 2019. Catastrophe losses in the period resulted largely from wildfires in California and wind and hail storms in various parts of the U.S., it said.
Over the year, Travelers said its net income climbed 4%, or $99 million, to more than $2.62 billion due to significantly lower catastrophe losses.
“Our performance enabled us to continue to make significant investments in support of our ambitious innovation agenda, while growing our investment portfolio and returning a substantial amount of capital to our shareholders,” Travelers CEO and Chairman Alan Schnitzer said in the fourth-quarter earnings report.
Despite beating profit expectations, Travelers’ stock price opened lower on Thursday, at $136.50 per share, down from Wednesday’s closing price of $141.37, according to Nasdaq.
