AMSF Misses on Q4 Earnings Despite Rising Premiums, Hikes Dividend

AMERISAFE, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | AMERISAFE, Inc. Quote

Full-Year 2025 Performance of AMSF

Operating earnings of $2.19 per share decreased 13.4% year over year. Operating revenues increased 3.5% year over year to $310.5 million, while total expenses rose 7.7% to $258.4 million.

Net income declined 15% year over year to $47.1 million. Pre-tax underwriting profit fell 19.5% year over year to $24.6 million.

AMSF’s Q4 Performance

Net premiums earned of $73.6 million advanced 10.7% year over year. The metric toped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.2%. Net investment income rose 2.5% year over year to $7.1 million, driven by a higher overall book yield and lower expenses. The reported figure exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.2%. Fee and other income fell 14.5% year over year.

Total expenses escalated 20.3% year over year to $68.9 million due to higher loss and loss adjustment expenses incurred, and underwriting and other operating costs.

AMERISAFE’s pre-tax underwriting profit amounted to $4.7 million, which fell 49.2% year over year. Operating net income of $9.8 million declined 23.7% year over year in the reported quarter.

The net combined ratio deteriorated 750 basis points year over year to 93.6. The Zacks Consensus Estimates was pegged at 90.8.

Financial Update (as of Dec. 31, 2025)

AMERISAFE exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $61.9 million, up from $44 million at 2024-end. Total assets declined to $1.13 billion from $1.16 billion at the end of 2024.

Shareholders’ equity decreased to $251.6 million from $257.3 million a year ago.

Book value per share was $13.39, down 0.9% year over year. Return on average equity fell 270 basis points year over year to 15.8%.

Capital Deployment Update

AMERISAFE repurchased common shares worth $8 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. For the full year, the company bought back shares worth $12.1 million. As of Dec. 31, 2025, it had $16.9 million remaining under its share repurchase authorization.

Management also declared a quarterly cash dividend of 41 cents per share, representing a 5.1% increase from the year-ago level. The dividend will be paid on March 20, 2026, to shareholders of record as of March 13.

The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Peer Performance

Here are some other stocks in the broader Finance space that have already reported earnings for the quarter: RLI Corp. RLI, W. R. Berkley Corporation WRB and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here’s how they performed:

RLI reported fourth-quarter 2025 operating earnings of 94 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 23.6%. The bottom line increased 80.8% from the prior-year quarter’s level. Operating revenues totaled $449 million, up 3% year over year. The top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.4%. RLI’s premiums written decreased 2.1% year over year to $463.2 million. This can be attributed to the poor performance of the Property Segment. Our estimate was $505.2 million.

W.R. Berkley’s fourth-quarter 2025 operating income of $1.13 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.9%. The bottom line remained flat year over year. Its net premiums written were $3 billion, up 2.1% year over year. The figure was lower than our estimate of $3.2 billion. WB’s operating revenues amounted to $3.7 billion, up 5.9% year over year. The top line missed the consensus estimate by 0.9%. Net investment income grew 6.6% to $338.2 million. Total expenses increased 7.2% to $3.1 billion due to higher losses and loss expenses. This was quite close to our estimate of $3.2 billion.

Hartford Insurance reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted operating earnings of $4.06 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 27.9%. The bottom line climbed 38% year over year. HIG's operating revenues rose 8.9% year over year to $5.2 billion. The top line beat the consensus mark by 1.4%. Earned premiums amounted to $6.1 billion, which advanced 5.7% year over year. Net investment income increased 16.5% year over year to $832 million. Pre-tax income climbed 31.6% year over year to $1.4 billion.