3 Dividend-Paying Stocks to Watch in the Life Insurance Space

MFC RGA VOYA

The Zacks Life Insurance industry seeks to benefit from the redesigning and repricing of products and services to maintain sales and profitability, increase automation and improve rate environment. The buoyancy in the industry is further confirmed by its Zacks Industry Rank #39, which places it in the top 16% of more than 251 Zacks industries.

However, with accelerated digitalization, expenses are likely to increase.

Over the past year, the life insurance industry has risen 13.7% compared with the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s growth of 16.1%. The Finance sector grew 7.9% in the same time frame.

Given this backdrop, let’s focus on some high-quality dividend-paying insurance stocks like Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC - Free Report) , Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA - Free Report) and Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA - Free Report) , which have attracted investors through consistent dividend hikes.

The life insurance industry comprises companies that offer life insurance coverages and retirement benefits to individuals and groups. The products include annuities, whole and term-life insurance, accidental death insurance, health insurance, Medicare supplements and long-term healthcare policies. Sales benefit from the increasing demand for protection products. The industry also includes companies providing wealth and asset management solutions.

An improving interest rate environment benefits life insurers as their products and investments are rate sensitive. A favorable interest rate, thus, has a positive impact on life insurers' earnings, capital and reserves, liquidity and competitiveness. The Fed has already made four hikes in 2023, taking the figure to 11 since March 2022. Life insurers, the direct beneficiaries of an improving rate environment, are performing well.

Industry players are finding new ways to improve their sales and profitability. Insurers are refraining from selling long-duration term life insurance. Also, life insurers continue to roll out investment products that provide bundled covers of guaranteed retirement income, life and healthcare to cater to customers preferring policies with “living” benefits more than those with death benefits.

A compelling product portfolio will, therefore, aid sales of life insurers. Per Deloitte Insights, life insurance premium is estimated to increase 1.9% in 2023. Per a report by ReporterLinker, global life insurance gross written premium is expected to be $2.5 trillion by 2026.

The life insurance industry started using electronic applications, e-signatures and electronic policy delivery. Carriers have begun selling policies online that appeal to the tech-savvy population. Simultaneously, the use of real-time data is making premium calculation easier and reducing risk. Increased automation is expected to drive premium growth and boost efficiency. Accelerated digitization, robotic process automation, cognitive intelligence and blockchain should help life insurers curb operational costs and aid margin expansion.

How to Pick Stocks With Solid Dividend Payouts?

In order to choose some of the best dividend stocks from the aforementioned industry, we have run the Zacks Stock Screener to identify stocks with a dividend yield in excess of 2% and a sustainable dividend payout ratio of less than 60%. These stocks also have a five-year historical dividend growth rate of more than 2% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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