Travelers’ 2Q profits up 6%

Photo | Contributed Travelers Cos. has a major presence in downtown Hartford.

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By Joe Cooper

Property-casualty insurer Travelers Cos., which has a major presence in downtown Hartford, posted a 6 percent increase in second-quarter profits thanks in part to lower-than expected catastrophe losses.

In the April-June period, the New York-based insurer posted net income of $557 million, or $2.10 a diluted share, up from $524 million, or $1.92 per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales for the quarter jumped 5 percent to $7.8 billion, matching a similar growth rate during the first quarter of this year.

Despite the gains, Travelers’ second-quarter earnings narrowly missed Wall Street estimates of $2.28 per share, according to Norwalk-based financial data and software company FactSet, which based its forecast on “adjusted” earnings per share. Travelers posted $2.02 per share, based on that metric.

Travelers’ shares were down 1.1 percent in premarket trading after Tuesday morning’s earnings release, but the company’s stock was still up 25 percent in the year through Monday.

The insurer reported an underwriting gain of $74 million, down about 16 percent from $90 million in the second quarter of 2018.

Catastrophe losses fell $121 million to $367 million during the quarter, which helped offset higher non-catastrophe weather-related losses.

“We remain extremely pleased with our performance in the marketplace,” said Alan Schnitzer, CEO and chairman of Travelers. “We grew net written premiums by 4 percent to a record $7.5 billion, marking the tenth consecutive quarter in which we generated premium growth in all three of our business segments.”

Travelers has been busy in recent months completing interior office renovations in downtown Hartford, where it employs about 6,500 workers, and raising $2 million for charity at last month’s Travelers Championship golf tournament. The insurer in May also expanded its medtech segment to insure organizations in the life sciences industry.

This story has been updated