Since it’s long been Warren Buffett’s favorite sector, it’s fascinating to see life insurance stocks doing so well lately with more than just a few now hitting 52-week highs. Since his purchase of National Indemnity more than half a century ago, he’s been putting money into the sector regularly.
Other investors seem to be following the leader.
The Dow Jones Life Insurance Index, which tracks the sector, has a daily price chart that looks like this:
From the late May low of $840, the index has moved much higher, now trading at $1045, a 7-month gain of 18 3/4%. That’s not as much as some tech and social media indexes over the same period, but it’s decent for a group of stocks as staid and conventional as those in the life insurance business.
4 Life Insurance Stocks Hitting New Highs.
Aflac, based in Columbus, Georgia and in business since 1955, offers life insurance as well as other insurance products. Market capitalization comes to $47.31 billion. This year’s earnings are up by 11.61% and up over the past 5 years by 2.69%. Trading with a price-earnings ratio of 10.67, the company pays a 2.08% dividend.
The new high came in early December and selling has taken it back to the up trending 50-day moving average, as you can see on this daily price chart:
Genworth Financial is a 145-year-old insurance company with corporate headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. This year’s earnings are in decline mode, off by 32.26%. Over the past 5 years, EPS is off by 6.27%. Now trading at just 38% of book value and with a price-earnings ratio of 8.18, Genworth is likely to be showing up on the screens of value investors. Market cap is $3.03 billion. No dividend is paid.
The stock hit a new 2023 high this week of $6.80, up from the May drop that had taken it down to $4.50.
MetLife has a market capitalization of $48.22 billion, making it the hugest on this list. In the life insurance field for 153 years, the company is based in New York, New York. With a price-earnings ratio of 29 and trading at 1.89 book value, this year’s earnings are up by 8.91%. Over the past 5 years, EPS is down by 4.29%. MetLife pays a 3.14% dividend.
On the daily chart below, you can see that the stock hit a new 52-week high last week, just above $67. The 50-day moving average has returned to an up trend.
Prudential is another one of the old, well-known names in the life insurance industry, around for 145 years, with corporate headquarters in Newark, New Jersey. The equity has a market capitalization of $36.94 billion, putting it on the “big” list. Earnings this year are upward by 24.29%. Prudential pays a 4.89% dividend.
The stock hit its new 12-month high last week up at just over $106. Here’s the daily price chart: