Munich Re’s Boardroom Vote of Confidence Collides With a 25% Price Slide in Reinsurance

Five board members bought shares near the 52-week low despite sharp reinsurance rate declines and stake reductions by JPMorgan and Capital Group. Strong Q1 earnings and a €6.3B profit target contrast with market pricing woes.

Five Munich Re board members have stepped in as buyers near the stock’s lowest point in a year, even as JPMorgan Asset Management and the Capital Group trim their stakes and the reinsurance market suffers its sharpest rate declines in recent memory. The insider purchases, led by Mari-Lizette Malherbe’s acquisition of 413 shares at €478.89 apiece on 18 May, come just days before JPMorgan disclosed it had slipped below the 3% notification threshold, landing at 2.99% on 21 May. The Capital Group has also dipped below that same reporting line.

The board’s buying spree sends a clear signal that management sees value where the broader market does not. The stock currently trades at €464.00 — roughly 23% below its 52-week high of €605.00 and down 15.48% since the start of 2026. Yet the group’s first-quarter earnings painted a very different picture. Net profit surged to €1.714 billion from €1.094 billion a year earlier, the combined ratio in property and casualty came in at an enviable 66.8%, and the solvency ratio stood at 292%. The full-year net profit target of €6.3 billion remains firmly in place.

The disconnect stems from a brutal pricing environment. During the June renewals for property catastrophe reinsurance, rates on loss-free programmes fell by as much as 25%, while the broader market saw declines of 15% to 20%. To defend profitability, Munich Re slashed its written volume by 18.5% — a draconian measure that still left a risk-adjusted price drop of 3.1%. The backdrop is a flood of capital: global reinsurance capacity hit an estimated €805 billion (primary article cited $760 billion at end-2025), and the recent spate of mild natural catastrophes has only added to the downward pressure on premiums.

The company has also rebuilt its own risk profile. External protection against large losses was cut from $1.55 billion to just $600 million, meaning Munich Re now retains more premium income on its balance sheet — but also absorbs a larger share if a major hurricane or typhoon season materialises. The solvency ratio provides a solid cushion, though the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began on 1 June, will put that strategy to the test. Analysts have set an average price target of around €564, but that depends on the group’s ability to hold the line at the 1 July renewals and on the full-year profit plan remaining achievable.

JPMorgan’s reduction, described in the filing as partly due to “acting in concert”, does not necessarily signal a fundamental exit. The stake sits just a hair below the regulatory 3% threshold, and the fund manager may simply be adjusting positions. Meanwhile, Munich Re continues its share buyback programme — the first €900 million tranche has already removed more than 850,000 shares from the market, adding another layer of demand alongside the board’s purchases.

The next hard data point arrives on 7 August with the half-year report. Before that, the July renewals will reveal whether the rate slide is stabilising or accelerating. For now, the board is betting that disciplined underwriting and a strong capital base will carry the day — even as Fitch Ratings downgraded the sector’s outlook to “deteriorating” and the price of reinsurance has rarely been under such sustained pressure.