Travelers Companies posted another strong quarter on paper Friday — core earnings of $9.18 a share, up from $8.14 a year ago — even as the insurance giant absorbed a sharp jump in catastrophe losses tied to a string of severe wind and hail storms across multiple states.

According to the company's third-quarter earnings release filed with the SEC, net income came in at $1.917 billion, or $9.04 per diluted share, compared with $1.888 billion, or $8.24 per share, in the same period last year. Core income — the figure Wall Street watches most closely — rose to $1.947 billion. Total revenue slipped slightly to $12.412 billion from $12.470 billion.

Storms cut into underwriting, buybacks keep flowing

The quarter's biggest drag came from catastrophe losses, which rose to $538 million pre-tax from $402 million a year earlier — adding 4.8 points to the company's combined ratio, up from 3.6 points. Travelers attributed the jump mainly to severe wind and hail events that hit multiple states during the quarter. Even so, the company's overall combined ratio — a key measure of underwriting profitability, where lower is better — improved slightly to 86.8% from 87.3%, as gains elsewhere offset the storm-related hit.

"ANOTHER IN A RUN OF SUCCESSFUL QUARTERS"

Chairman and CEO Alan Schnitzer struck an upbeat tone in the earnings release, saying the company was "pleased to report excellent third quarter results." Premium growth was mixed across Travelers' three main business lines: Business Insurance net written premiums rose 3% to $5.868 billion and Bond & Specialty Insurance jumped 12% to $1.209 billion, while Personal Insurance — the segment most exposed to storm losses — fell 7% to $4.403 billion. Business Insurance and other trade outlets noted the Personal lines pullback reflects both storm exposure and the company's recent exit from its Canadian personal lines operations.

Travelers kept returning cash to shareholders despite the choppier underwriting picture. The board maintained its regular quarterly dividend at $1.25 per share, payable December 31 to shareholders of record as of December 10, and the company repurchased $1.508 billion of its own stock during the quarter — about 4 million shares at an average price of $376 — bringing total capital returned to shareholders in the quarter to $1.769 billion. Travelers still has $2.415 billion left under its current buyback authorization.

The results land in the middle of a mixed third-quarter earnings season for the insurance and banking sector, with some peers posting blowout profit beats and others disappointing investors despite strong headline numbers. For Travelers, a 34% jump in catastrophe losses did little to dent a profit line that has now topped year-ago results for several consecutive quarters, underscoring how much pricing discipline and investment income have cushioned the industry against an increasingly stormy climate.