Florida’s Universal P&C Reports Strong Profits, Policy Growth for Q3

Universal Insurance Holdings, parent company of Florida’s third-largest property insurer, reported an improved bottom line for the third quarter this year, even with a steady increase in policies in recent months.

After shedding more than 160,000 policies in the turbulent days of 2022 and 2023, Fort Lauderdale-based Universal has bounced back in multiple ways, from an improved profit margin to a much stronger combined ratio, and a net gain of 60,000 policies in force in the last two years, according to the publicly traded company’s latest earnings report.

“It was a solid quarter, with a 30.6% adjusted return on common equity,” CEO Stephen Donaghy said in a statement last week. “Our unique, organic business model allows us to consistently generate deep, double-digit ROEs, making us particularly well positioned to succeed in the much-improved FL market.”

Univeral, home of Universal Property & Casualty Insurance, which now writes in 19 states, chalked 883,888 policies in force at the end of September this year, up from a recent low of 807,553 in 2023 but still below the almost 1 million policies Universal held in mid-2021.

Universal reported 561,546 Florida policies for Q3 2025. That compares to some 768,950 policies held by Florida’s last-resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., at the end of September. State Farm reported some 647,000 policies in Florida early this year.

Universal’s net income rose to $39.8 million for the third quarter this year, a significant improvement from the $16 million loss reported in Q3 2024, financial reports show. The loss ratio fell to just above 70%, from almost 92% this time last year. And Universal’s combined ratio dropped 21 percentage points, to 96.4%.

As other Florida insurance executives have noted in recent months, the 2022-2023 legislative limits on excessive claims litigation appear to have given the carrier some breathing room.

“…We commenced our annual actuarial review process considerably earlier this year and our findings are very encouraging,” Donaghy said. “As we’ve discussed in recent periods, our reserving process has become more conservative, with a focus on protecting and increasing the resilience of our balance sheet.”

He added: “When we look at our current and prior accident year reserves in the aggregate, we believe we’re in a very strong position, further increasing our optimism as we turn a new chapter in the revamped” Florida market.

Direct premiums written climbed to $593 million for the third quarter this year, up sharply from a low point of $368 million seen in the last quarter of 2021.

Topics Profit Loss Florida Property Casualty