Globe Life third-quarter net income is $4.62 per diluted share, guidance adjusted

Globe Life Inc. (GL) said Wednesday it earned $4.62 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2026, down from $4.73 a year earlier, while adjusting its full-year 2026 earnings guidance.

The life and health insurer, based in McKinney, Texas, released the results in a press release attached to a Form 8-K filed Wednesday.

Net operating income, a non-GAAP measure that excludes realized investment gains and losses and certain unusual items, was $4.84 per diluted share, compared with $4.81 a year earlier.

Here's how the company did:

• Net income per diluted share: $4.62 vs. $4.73 a year earlier
• Net operating income per diluted share: $4.84 vs. $4.81 a year earlier
• Total revenue: $1.60 billion vs. $1.51 billion a year earlier
• Total premium revenue: $1.31 billion vs. $1.23 billion a year earlier
• Net income: $361.1 million vs. $387.8 million a year earlier
• Net operating income: $378.8 million vs. $394.2 million a year earlier

Total premium revenue grew 7% from a year earlier. Health premium rose 16% to $446.9 million, while life premium rose 2% to $864.6 million.

Book value per share was $85.35 at Sept. 30, up 23% from $69.52 a year earlier. Excluding accumulated other comprehensive income, book value per share was $103.62, up 11% from $93.63.

Net income as a return on equity was 19.7% for the nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with 21.9% a year earlier. For the nine months, net income was $919.4 million, compared with $895.2 million.

The results include a before-tax remeasurement gain of $120.5 million from the company's annual reserve assumption update. The company updates reserve assumptions each year in the third quarter, and the year-ago quarter included a gain of $134.3 million.

Guidance and buybacks

The company adjusted its full-year 2026 earnings guidance to a range of $15.35 to $15.65. It said the changes reflect two items at its United American General Agency division rather than a fundamental change in its underlying core business.

One item was high-severity claims at Evry, which the company described as a developing group health business still growing and scaling to a size that will enable stable results.

The other was a claims processing delay at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which resulted in excess Medicare Supplement claims during the third quarter.

For 2027, the company expects net operating income per share of $16.10 to $17.10, an increase of 7.1% at the midpoint.

The company repurchased 1.1 million shares in the quarter for $185 million, at an average price of $175.61. It expects to spend $725 million to $775 million on repurchases in 2026, up from previous guidance of $670 million to $700 million.

Segment results

Life underwriting margin was $458.2 million, down from $481.6 million a year earlier. The margin fell to 53% of premium from 57%, and the company attributed the decline primarily to fluctuations in assumption updates.

Health underwriting margin rose 7% to $115.6 million. The company said the United American unit posted an underwriting loss of $6.4 million, due primarily to an underwriting loss of about $16 million at Evry and about $7 million of excess prior period Medicare Supplement claims.

Insurance underwriting income, a non-GAAP measure, was $481.8 million, compared with $503.1 million a year earlier. The ratio of administrative expenses to premium was 7.3%, the same as the year-ago quarter.

Net investment income rose 3% to $295.9 million. Excess investment income was $37.9 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with 45 cents a year earlier.

Life net sales were $149.1 million, down 1% from $150.5 million, while health net sales rose 32% to $94.1 million from $71.4 million.

The producing agent count at American Income fell 7% to 11,331, while the count at Liberty National rose 9% to 4,187.

Fixed maturities at fair value totaled $16.87 billion at Sept. 30, and 97% were rated investment grade. The portfolio earned a tax-equivalent effective yield of 5.33% in the quarter, compared with 5.26% a year earlier.

Liquidity at the parent company is sufficient to meet additional capital needs of the insurance companies, the company said.