These 3 Insurance Stocks Made New 52-Week Highs: Still Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Commercial property and casualty insurance premiums fell 1.2% in Q1 2026, the first quarterly decline since 2017, weighing on the broader insurance sector.
• Insurance stocks with little or no P&C exposure, including MetLife, Globe Life, and Unum Group, have outperformed the sector by focusing on life, group benefits, and supplemental health lines.
• Unum Group and Globe Life trade at steep valuation discounts of 9x and 10x forward earnings, respectively, while both companies recently raised dividends and posted solid Q1 2026 earnings results.

Defensive investing has been left in the dust by the high-flying semiconductor rally, and plenty of individual sectors are lagging the market.

Despite a whiplash-inducing correction following the start of the Iran war, the S&P 500 is now up around 10% year-to-date (YTD). But the rally has been narrow, and the market has become sharply divided between stocks with AI connections and those without, which puts the insurance sector in perilous territory. However, not every insurance stock is lagging the market.

In fact, some are making new 52-week highs, in large part because they’re avoiding a certain niche of the market that’s becoming highly problematic: property and casualty.

A look into a pair of insurance ETFs shows where the market has become bifurcated. The iShares U.S. Insurance ETF NYSE: IAK is down about 2% YTD, but the Invesco KBW Property and Casualty ETF NASDAQ: KBWP is down more than 5% so far in 2026.

Commercial P&C pricing is the main culprit of the divergence. According to the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, commercial P&C premiums fell 1.2% in Q1 2026, marking the first quarter of premium price declines since 2017. Property premiums took the biggest hit, dropping 5.8% in a “notable acceleration” from the previous two periods.

The insurance indices are heavily weighted toward large-cap P&C carriers like Progressive Corp. NYSE: PGR, Chubb Ltd. NYSE: CB, and Travelers Companies Inc. NYSE: TRV that sit in the crosshairs of the softening price cycle. But companies in the life, group benefits, and supplemental health segments are sheltered from commercial P&C price declines. While the P&C price cycle rolls over, the value and benefits industry continues to be undervalued, and that’s exactly the area we’re going to explore with our stock selections here.

The key theme when picking insurance stocks in this cycle is insulation from the commercial P&C segment. Each of the following three firms has little P&C exposure and a limited (or no) presence in the major indices.

MetLife: Diversified Compounder With Strong Dividend

MetLife Inc. NYSE: MET is the only insurance stock listed here with a significant weight in the indices (about 5% of IAK’s holdings), but it can’t be blamed for the poor performance.

MET shares are up more than 17% in the last three months, driven by a broad earnings beat and dividend raise.

In the company’s Q1 2026 numbers released on May 6, MetLife reported adjusted earnings of $1.6 billion and adjusted EPS of $2.42, up 18% and 23% respectively. The company also returned more than $1 billion to shareholders in buybacks and dividends. The dividend now pays $2.37 per share annually following the raise, the 12th consecutive year of payout increases.

The stock also has momentum after finally breaking through a multi-year resistance level around $83. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) confirms the bullish momentum, indicating that this breakout could have staying power.

Globe Life: Deep Value Escaping the Index Drawdown

Globe Life Inc. NYSE: GL focuses on life and supplemental health insurance for lower and middle-income households.

While mid-market life and supplemental insurance aren’t high-growth industries, they do provide steady, long-duration cash flows that aren’t prone to cyclicality.

The company reported Q1 2026 results approximately in line with market expectations, and management raised full-year operating EPS guidance to $15.40-$15.90. No need for a blowout report here, with the stock trading at just 10x forward earnings, a steep discount to both the insurance sector (12x earnings) and the S&P 500 (22x earnings).

The chart is showing some positive technical momentum as well. Now that the RSI is firmly in bullish territory, the stock’s breakout above the 50-day moving average could be sustainable. Former resistance areas often become support during breakouts, and the 50-day MA appears to be a new line in the sand for GL shares.

Unum Group: Low-Risk, High-Yield Employment Insurer

Unum Group NYSE: UNM also lacks representation in the major indices despite its steady franchise of employment-linked and group disability carriers, such as Colonial Life. Index providers may want to remedy this mistake, as this company may be the best bargain of the bunch.

The stock trades at just 9x forward earnings and 1.06x sales despite a 16% gain over the last three months, boosted by a top- and bottom-line Q1 2026 earnings beat. Revenue grew 8% year-over-year (YOY), largely due to fading risk in the long-term care segment, and management boosted the dividend for the 17th consecutive year.

A low-beta insurer with a strong dividend and a derisking narrative is like a lightbulb for value-investing moths. The stock is in the midst of a healthy breakout, notching new all-time highs with a Golden Cross forming at the 50-day and 200-day MAs. The RSI is also cooperating, maintaining its bullish level without crossing the Overbought threshold. More highs are likely on the way for this under-the-radar compounding machine.