The Hartford’s Q1 combined ratio worsens to 96.9% on higher catastrophe losses

By Michael Loney

April 24 - (The Insurer) - The Hartford has reported a 4.1 point deterioration in its combined ratio to 96.9% for the first quarter as a result of catastrophe losses hitting both its business insurance and personal insurance segments, but was still able to report core earnings per share ahead of Wall Street consensus forecasts.

The Christopher Swift-led company reported core earnings of $639 million for the quarter, down 10% from $709 million in the same period of last year.

The $2.20 core earnings per diluted share beat the $2.15 consensus estimate of 22 analysts as per MarketWatch, and was down from $2.34 in Q1 2024.

The consolidated combined ratio of 96.9% was a 4.1 point deterioration from 92.8% in the prior-year period.

P&C current accident year catastrophe losses in first quarter 2025 were $467 million, before tax, including losses related to January’s California wildfires of $325 million, net of reinsurance.

The current accident year cat losses were $161 million in last year’s first quarter.

Net favorable prior accident year development in core earnings of $90 million in 2025 compared with net favorable PYD of $32 million in core earnings in 2024. The favorable PYD in Q1 2025 was primarily driven by reserve reductions in workers’ compensation, homeowners and personal auto.

The business insurance Q1 2025 combined ratio of 94.4% was a 4.3 point deterioration from 90.1% in the prior-year period. The segment’s underlying combined ratio of 88.4% was unchanged from the prior-year period.

Cat losses represented 5.9 points of the Q1 2025 business insurance combined ratio, compared with 1.8 points in the prior-year period.

The personal insurance Q1 2025 combined ratio of 106.1% was a 4.5 point deterioration from the 101.6% in last year’s first quarter. The underlying combined ratio improved 6.4 points to 89.7% from 96.1%, largely due to the impact of earned pricing increases and lower frequency in automobile physical damage.

Cat losses represented 16.5 points of the personal insurance combined ratio in Q1 2025, compared with 5.5 points in the same period last year.

Overall property P&C written premiums increased by 9% in the first quarter of 2025, driven by growth of 10% in business insurance to $3.69 billion and 8% in personal insurance to $913 million.

“Business insurance had a strong quarter with top-line growth of 10% and an underlying combined ratio of 88.4%,” said The Hartford's chief financial officer Beth Costello.

Excluding workers’ compensation, business insurance pricing grew 9.9% in the first quarter, up sequentially from the 9.7% increase in Q4 2024.

Within the personal insurance segment, auto prices increased 15.8% in Q1, down from 19.0% in Q4 2024, and homeowners prices increased 12.3% in Q1, down from 13.8% in Q4 2024.