The Hartford Raises Quarterly Dividend 11.7% to $0.67

The Hartford Insurance Group increased its quarterly dividend 11.7% to $0.67 per share from $0.60. The shares are scheduled to trade ex-dividend on December 1, 2026, and the payment is due January 5, 2027.

Why the dividend changed

The increase accompanied a strong third-quarter headline result and continued growth in the insurer’s core markets. Net income available to common shareholders rose from the prior-year period, while property-and-casualty earned premiums and fully insured ongoing premiums in Employee Benefits both grew. Core earnings declined, however, showing that the dividend decision was made against a more mixed operating comparison than the net-income result alone suggests.

Chief Financial Officer Beth Costello said investment income benefited from alternative investments and a larger pool of invested assets. She placed the dividend increase in the context of Hartford’s consistent record of annual increases. Higher investment income and expanding premiums provide earnings support, although insurance results remain exposed to catastrophe losses and changes in claim severity.

The quarter contained those counterweights. Property-and-casualty catastrophe losses increased because of tornado, wind and hail events. Business Insurance produced premium growth, but its underlying combined ratio deteriorated. Personal Insurance’s underlying combined ratio improved as earned pricing increases outpaced loss-cost trends, even as competitive conditions pressured automobile growth. Employee Benefits premiums expanded, but its loss ratio rose because of group disability and group life claims.

Hartford is also changing its business mix. It completed the acquisition of Equitable’s Employee Benefits business on October 13, adding approximately $500 million in non-medical benefits premiums and supporting technology. Separately, the pending sale of Hartford Funds to Wellington Management is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. The company has said the Equitable transaction did not change its previously announced capital-management plans.

Dividend track record

The latest increase extends Hartford’s dividend-growth streak to 13 consecutive years. The last annual cut occurred in 2009, placing the current record on the other side of the financial crisis and showing that management subsequently rebuilt the payout through a long series of annual increases.

Recent payments show a step-up pattern rather than small changes every quarter. The company paid $0.52 per share on ex-dividend dates in December 2024 and March, June and September 2025. The quarterly payment then increased to $0.60 beginning with the December 1, 2025, ex-dividend date and remained there for the March 2, June 1 and September 1, 2026, ex-dividend dates. The newly declared $0.67 rate is the next step in that sequence.

Full-year distributions rose from $1.30 per share in 2020 to $1.44 in 2021, $1.58 in 2022, $1.75 in 2023, $1.93 in 2024 and $2.16 in 2025. The 2025 total represented an 11.9% increase, following a 10.6% increase in 2024. The five-year record is summarized by 9.9% annual growth.

Is the dividend covered?

Hartford’s dividend uses 16% of earnings. That leaves most reported profit outside the common dividend and provides a substantial coverage margin against ordinary fluctuations in underwriting and investment results.

SmarterDividends rates the dividend A, with a safety score of 90. That falls in the very safe range of 80-100. The grade reflects strong earnings coverage and the established growth record, while recognizing that insurer earnings can vary with catastrophes, reserve adjustments, market returns and claim trends.

Yield and valuation

The forward yield is 1.77%, compared with a 5.84% median for the Financial Services sector. The gap indicates that Hartford offers less current income than the typical sector company, while its recent record has emphasized dividend growth and a low earnings payout.

At the stated annual dividend of $2.40 per share, an investor holding 100 shares receives $240.00 in annual income. Against a share price of $133.51, SmarterDividends estimates fair value at $98.28 and classifies the shares as overvalued, corresponding to 28% downside to that estimate. The fair-value figure is an appraisal, not a forecast of the share price.

What to watch

The immediate dividend milestones are the December 1, 2026, ex-dividend date and the January 5, 2027, payment date. Subsequent earnings reports will show whether premium growth, investment income and pricing continue to offset catastrophe losses and pressure in Employee Benefits.

Investors can also monitor integration of the acquired Equitable business and the planned first-quarter 2027 closing of the Hartford Funds sale. A leadership transition follows on March 1, 2027, when company President A. Morris “Mo” Tooker is scheduled to become chief executive and Christopher Swift is due to move to executive chair. Those developments will frame future capital-allocation decisions, including the pace of dividend growth and share repurchases.