Allstate Corp, the largest listed U.S. home and auto insurer, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as it earned higher insurance premiums across its businesses.
Premiums earned at the Allstate’s property-liability division rose 4 percent to $7.1 billion.
The company has been raising insurance rates in its homeowners business to offset uncertain catastrophe losses and low interest rates on its investments.
Losses from natural disasters such as tornados, snow storms, and floods rose 24 percent to $445 million in the first quarter due to a more severe winter than usual across most of North America.
The company’s net income available to common shareholders fell 17 percent to $587 million, or $1.30 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $709 million, or $1.47 per share, a year earlier.
On an operating basis, the company earned $1.30 per share.
Consolidated revenue rose about 3 percent to $8.68 billion.
Analysts on average expected Allstate to earn $1.19 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Allstate shares, which have risen about 14 percent in the past quarter, closed at $56.57 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.