Universal Insurance Holdings, a large Florida-based insurance company, reported net income available to common shareholders of $66.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, a significant increase from $6 million in the same period last year.
The company’s adjusted net income also increased, rising to $63.3 million from $7.2 million in the same period last year.
According to Universal, the higher adjusted net profit was mainly due to a lower net loss ratio and higher net premiums and net investment income.
Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Donaghy attributed the strong performance to stability in Florida’s insurance market driven by recent legislative changes.
“We had an outstanding quarter and I’m proud of the progress we made in 2025,” Donaghy said. “We continue to see the benefits of Florida’s legislative reforms, which stabilize the market and benefit all stakeholders.”
He added: “Our capital position is strong and we believe our total reserves are more than adequate. We are well on track with negotiations and implementation of our 2026 reinsurance program, with 90% of our first catastrophe tower in place and meaningful additional multi-year capacity secured for the 2027 hurricane season.”
Universal also reported total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 of $407.9 million, an increase of 6% from the same period last year, and core revenue of $403.6 million, an increase of 4.4% from the same period last year.
The company said higher net premium income and net investment income were the main drivers of core revenue growth.
Direct written premiums were $483.7 million, up 2.7% from the prior year, driven primarily by an 18.2% increase in other states, partially offset by a 3.1% decrease in Florida.
Overall, the increase primarily reflects increases in current policies and inflation adjustments across Universal’s multi-state operations.
Direct premium income totaled US$538 million, an increase of 3.6% over the same period last year. This increase stems from direct premium growth over the past twelve months.
The ceded premium ratio decreased to 32.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025 from 32.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024. This decrease was primarily due to higher reinsurance expenses incurred in the prior year.
Universal reported net premium income of $363.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 4.3% from the fourth quarter of 2024. As noted above, this increase was primarily attributable to higher direct premiums earned and lower ceded premium ratios.
The combined ratio improved significantly in Q4 2024, falling 20.4 percentage points to 87.5% from the 107.9% CoR reported in Q4 2024.
Net investment income was $19 million, up from $15.6 million in the same period last year. This growth was primarily due to higher fixed income reinvestment yields and higher investment assets.
In the fourth quarter, Universal repurchased approximately 210,000 shares at a total cost of $6.9 million. On January 7, 2026, a new $20 million stock repurchase program was announced, which is effective until early 2028.
In addition, the board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 16 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on March 12, 2026 to shareholders of record as of March 2026.
