HIG - Hartford Financial stock slips 3% after hours as Q1 earnings outlook disappoints

2023-04-13 16:41:13 ET

Hartford Financial Services ( NYSE: HIG ) stock slipped 3.4% after the bell on Thursday as the insurer projected Q1 core earnings well below Street expectations, hurt by higher catastrophe losses.

The company expects Q1 core EPS of $1.68, well below consensus estimate of $1.99. Consolidated net investment income is estimated to be $515M, before tax, including $26M on limited partnerships and other alternative investments.

Hartford ( HIG ) projected property & casualty current accident year catastrophe losses of $185M before tax, and $146M after tax. Of this, $138M are estimated in commercial lines and $47M in personal lines.

Catastrophe losses were driven by significant winter storms along the East and West coasts and tornado, wind and hail events across several regions.

The insurer expects Q1 commercial lines combined ratio of 92.7 and an underlying combined ratio of 88.5, consistent with its prior guidance.

Personal lines combined ratio is estimated to be 106.1, with underlying combined ratio of 97.0, which includes ~$30M (before tax) of higher-than-expected CAY losses from auto physical damage and liability losses resulting from increased severity.

Hartford ( HIG ) repurchased 4.7M shares in Q1 for $350M.

The firm will release its Q1 results after market close on April 27.

Earlier, Hartford ( HIG ) posted better-than-expected Q4 results.

For further details see: