Cincinnati Financial Corporation

What does Cincinnati Financial Corporation own?

Cincinnati Financial owns The Cincinnati Insurance Company and its four insurance subsidiaries, which together market coverage as The Cincinnati Insurance Companies. It also owns Cincinnati Global, a London Lloyd's underwriter; CSU Producer Resources, an excess and surplus lines brokerage; and CFC Investment Company, a leasing and financing business.

Is Cincinnati Financial publicly traded?

Yes. Cincinnati Financial Corporation trades on NASDAQ under the ticker CINF and is a member of the S&P 500. Shares are broadly held by institutional and retail investors, with no controlling shareholder.

Who founded Cincinnati Financial?

The Cincinnati Insurance Company was founded in 1950 by four independent insurance agents: John J. Schiff, Robert Schiff, Chester Field, and Harry Turner. Cincinnati Financial Corporation was formed in 1968 as the holding company for the insurance group.

Where is Cincinnati Financial headquartered?

The company is headquartered in Fairfield, Ohio, a suburb north of Cincinnati. Its campus houses the parent company and the principal operations of The Cincinnati Insurance Companies.

Who owns Cincinnati Financial?

The company is publicly held. Institutional investors own most of its common stock, and no single shareholder controls the company. Members of the founding Schiff family have held leadership roles across three generations but do not control the corporation.

How does Cincinnati Financial make money?

The company earns money primarily through insurance premiums, which totaled $9.98 billion in net earned premiums for FY2025, and through investment returns on its portfolio. Investment income contributed $1.17 billion and net investment gains added $1.44 billion in FY2025. Its equity portfolio makes reported net income sensitive to stock market movements.

The roots of the company trace to 1950, when four independent insurance agents, John J. Schiff, Robert Schiff, Chester Field, and Harry Turner, founded The Cincinnati Insurance Company. The four men worked on the agency side of the industry and wanted to build an insurer that treated agents as partners rather than distribution intermediaries. The Cincinnati Insurance Company was incorporated on August 2, 1950, and began writing business in January 1951.

The early proposition was unusual for the era. The company promised agents fast, fair claims handling and gave local claims representatives authority to settle losses on site. That approach built agent loyalty and produced disciplined growth through the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1968, the company formed Cincinnati Financial Corporation as a holding company. The structure let the group invest beyond the bonds that insurance regulation required the operating company to hold, and it created a vehicle for diversification. The holding company was among the first in its peer group to build a meaningful portfolio of dividend-paying common stocks, a decision that still shapes the company's financial profile today.

Expansion followed quickly. In 1972 and 1973 the company created The Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati and Queen City Indemnity Company, its first direct-billing operation. A merger with Inter-Ocean Life and Casualty, a St. Louis insurer relocated to Cincinnati decades earlier, gave the life insurance business real scale. Through the 1970s and 1980s the group added subsidiary insurers, including The Cincinnati Casualty Company and The Cincinnati Indemnity Company, which today make up its standard market property casualty group writing business in 46 states.

John J. Schiff remained the company's guiding figure for decades, followed by his son John J. Schiff Jr., who served as chief executive until 2011 and as chairman until 2015. Steven J. Johnston led the company from 2011 until his retirement, when Stephen Spray became president and chief executive officer in January 2024. Spray joined the company as a claims representative in 1988.

The company created Cincinnati Re in 2015 to assume reinsurance risk, adding a revenue stream that diversifies the primary insurance book. In 2019 it acquired Cincinnati Global, a London-based specialty underwriter that operates the Lloyd's managing agency for Syndicate 318, giving the group a presence in the London specialty market.

The first quarter of 2025 brought the largest catastrophe loss in company history, driven by the California wildfires and related reinsurance reinstatement premiums. Even with that loss, the company reported a full-year 2025 combined ratio of 94.9%, inside its long-term target range of 92% to 98%. Full-year net income reached $2.393 billion, up 4% from $2.292 billion in 2024, and the board continued the company's streak of annual dividend increases.

The Cincinnati Insurance Companies hold an A+ (Superior) financial strength rating from A.M. Best, the highest tier of ratings assigned to property casualty groups of its kind. Cincinnati Financial is a member of the Fortune 500 and the S&P 500. Its streak of more than 60 consecutive annual dividend increases places it among the longest-running dividend growers in the United States.