Universal Insurance Hldgs (NYSE:UVE) reported third-quarter financial results on Friday. The transcript from the company’s third-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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Summary
Universal Insurance Hldgs reported a strong 32.7% annualized return on common equity, driven by solid underwriting and revenue performance.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased to $1.93 from $1.36 year-over-year, primarily due to higher underwriting and net investment income.
Core revenue rose by 11.1% year-over-year to $444.3 million, fueled by higher net premiums earned and net investment income.
Direct premiums written increased by 2.7% to $608.9 million, with significant growth outside Florida offsetting a small decline within the state.
The net combined ratio improved to 91%, benefiting from a lower net loss ratio, though partially offset by a slightly higher net expense ratio.
The company repurchased approximately 174,000 shares costing $7.4 million, with 1.1 million shares remaining in the repurchase authorization.
Management expressed confidence in their organic growth model, particularly highlighting legislative benefits in Florida and rate adequacy outside the state.
The company plans to continue returning value to shareholders through dividends, with ongoing discussions about the future of the share repurchase program.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR (Moderator)
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Universal Insurance Hldgs’ third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Arash Soleimani, Chief Strategy Officer.
Arash Soleimani (Chief Strategy Officer)
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. Welcome to our quarterly earnings call. On the call with me today are Steve Donaghy, Chief Executive Officer, and Frank Wilcox, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, please note today’s discussion may contain forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. For more information, please see the press release and Universal Insurance Hldgs’ SEC filings, all of which are available on the Investors section of our website at universalinsuranceholdings.com and on the SEC’s website.
A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures is included in the quarterly press release and can also be found on Universal Insurance Hldgs’ website at universalinsuranceholdings.com. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Steve.
Steve Donaghy (Chief Executive Officer)
Thanks, Arash. Good morning, everyone. In the quarter we delivered a very strong 32.7% annualized return on common equity driven by solid underwriting and revenue performance. Our net loss ratio continues to improve and new business trends are solid, including 8% growth in policies in force subsequent to quarter end. Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin in the western Florida Panhandle as a Category 2 hurricane and quickly weakened as it moved inland. Our claims team was deployed immediately with field adjusters on the ground in the affected areas and we have been in direct contact with policyholders to expedite inspections and payments. Our focus is on helping our customers recover as quickly as possible and we view the storm as manageable based on claims activity to date.
I’ll turn it over to Frank to walk through our financial results.
Frank Wilcox (Chief Financial Officer)
Thanks, Steve, and good morning. Adjusted diluted earnings per common share was $1.93 compared to an adjusted diluted earnings per common share of $1.36 in the prior-year quarter. The higher adjusted diluted earnings per common share mostly stems from higher underwriting and net investment income. Core revenue of $444.3 million was up 11.1% year over year, with growth primarily stemming from higher net premiums earned and net investment income. Direct premiums written were $608.9 million, up 2.7% from the prior-year quarter. The increase stems from 18.5% growth in other states partially offset by a 3.3% decrease in Florida. Overall growth mostly reflects higher policies in force across our multi-state footprint. Direct premiums earned were $556.7 million, up 4.2% from the prior-year quarter, reflecting the direct written premiums growth over the last 12 months. Net premiums earned were $403.2 million, up 12.1% from the prior-year quarter.
The increase is primarily attributable to higher direct premiums earned and a lower ceded premium ratio. The net combined ratio was 91%, down 5.4 points compared to the prior-year quarter. The decrease reflects a lower net loss ratio partially offset by a higher net expense ratio. The 64.6% net loss ratio was down 5.6 points compared to the prior-year quarter, with the decrease reflecting a lower ceded premium ratio. The net expense ratio was 26.4%, up 0.2 points compared to the prior-year quarter, with the increase driven by higher policy acquisition costs associated with growth outside of Florida and higher other operating costs and expenses, partly offset by a lower ceded premium ratio.
During the third quarter, the company repurchased approximately 174,000 shares at an aggregate cost of $7.4 million. The company’s current share repurchase authorization program has approximately 1.1 million remaining. On July 8, 2026, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share of common stock, payable on August 7, 2026 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 31, 2026. With that, I’d like to ask the operator to open up the line for questions.
OPERATOR (Moderator)
To ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Paul Newsom with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.
Paul Newsom (Analyst)
Great. Congratulations on the quarter. Maybe some thoughts on the competitive environment both in Florida and outside of Florida, and how you see the prospects for Universal’s growth in either business in the various markets you’re in.
Steve Donaghy (Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, good morning, Paul, and thank you. You know, we continue to write business at a very good clip as you saw in our release, and we feel very confident about our organic growth model across all the states that we currently serve. You know, the legislation in Florida has proven to be a benefit to the entire market and our relationships with the agents, with our agency force continue to serve us extremely well. So we continue to write business at a very good clip.
Outside of Florida, we also find various niches of rate adequacy and we feel really good about the business we’re bringing on due to the rate adequacy. So, you know, we don’t chase the business. We want to write the business where we feel good about it and it continues to serve us well.
Paul Newsom (Analyst)
Given the very high ROEs this year, any updated thoughts on capital management, where you want to allocate the capital you’re accumulating?
Frank Wilcox (Chief Financial Officer)
Well, I think that we’re going to continue on the path that we have in terms of returning value to shareholders through dividends. As you know, that repurchase plan has only got 1.1 million. We’ll go to the Board and have a discussion around that and the appetite for it. Number one priority has always been and will continue to be to ensure that the insurance entities are adequately capitalized for the protection of the policyholders in addition to their ability to continue to generate the premium that offers opportunities for the entire organization.
Paul Newsom (Analyst)
Appreciate the help. Thanks, guys.
Frank Wilcox (Chief Financial Officer)
Thanks, Paul.
OPERATOR (Moderator)
Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn it back to Steve Donaghy, Chief Executive Officer, for closing remarks.
Steve Donaghy (Chief Executive Officer)
I’d like to thank all of our associates, consumers, agents, and our stakeholders for their continued support of Universal. Have a nice day.
OPERATOR (Moderator)
This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company’s SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants’ and analysts’ statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.
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