In the fourth quarter, net income was $187 million or $1.69 per share, compared to $165 million or $1.45 per share a year ago.
Net operating income for the quarter was $188 million or $1.70 per share, a per share increase of 9% from a year ago.
On a GAAP reported basis, return on equity for the year was 11.6%, and book value per share was $66.02.
Excluding unrealized gains and losses on fixed maturities, return on equity was 14.5%, and book value per share grew 9% to $48.26.
In our life insurance operations, premium revenue increased 5% to $631 million, and life underwriting margin was $177 million, up 6% from a year ago.
In 2020, we expect life underwriting income to grow around 4% to 5%.
On the health side, premium revenue grew 7% to $275 million, and health underwriting margin was up 5% to $61 million.
In 2020, we expect health underwriting income to grow around 4% to 6%.
Administrative expenses were $61 million for the quarter, up 7% from a year ago.
As a percentage of premium, administrative expenses were 6.7%, the same as a year ago.
For the full year, administrative expenses were $240 million or 6.7% of premium, compared to 6.5% in 2018.
In 2020, we expect administrative expenses to grow approximately 6%, and to be around 6.7% of premium.
At American income, life premiums were up 8% to $297 million.
And life underwriting margin was up 9% to $98 million.
Net life sales were $59 million, up 9%.
The average producing count for the fourth quarter was 7,631, up 10% from the year-ago quarter and up 1% from the third quarter.
The producing agent count at the end of the fourth quarter was 7,551.
Net life sales for the full-year 2019 grew 6%.
At Liberty National, life premiums were up 3% to $72 million, and underwriting margin was up 4% to $18 million.
Net life sales increased 13% to $15 million, and net health sales were $7 million, up 12% from the year-ago quarter.
The average producing agent count for the fourth quarter was 2,534, up 17% from the year-ago quarter and up 6% from the third quarter.
The producing agent count at Liberty National ended the quarter at 2,660.
Net life sales for the full-year 2019 grew 9%.
Net health sales for the full-year 2019 grew 11%.
And our direct-to-consumer division at Globe Life, life premiums are up 4% to $209 million, and life underwriting margin was flat at $39 million.
Net life sales were $30 million, up 2% from the year-ago quarter.
At Family Heritage, health premiums increased 8% to $76 million, and health underwriting margin increased 7% to $19 million.
Net health sales were up 19% to $18 million due to an increase in both agent productivity and agent count.
The average producing agent count for the fourth quarter was 1,228 up 9% from the year-ago quarter and up 8% from the third quarter.
The producing agent count at the end of the quarter was 1,286.
Net health sales for the full-year 2019 grew 9%.
At United American General Agency, health premiums increased 11% to $108 million, while margins increased 12% to $15 million.
Net health sales were $32 million, up 7% compared to the year-ago quarter.
We expect the producing agent count for each agency at the end of 2020 to be in the following ranges: American Income, 5% to 7% growth; Liberty National, 5% to 13% growth; Family Heritage, 2% to 7% growth.
Net life sales for the full-year 2020 are expected to be as follows: American Income, 5% to 9% growth; Liberty National, 8% to 12% growth; direct-to-consumer, down 2% to up 2%.
Net health sales for the full-year 2020 are expected to be as follows: Liberty National, 9% to 13%; Family Heritage, 8% to 12%; United American individual Medicare Supplement, relatively flat.
Excess investment income, which we define as net investment income less required interest on net policy obligations and debt was $63 million, a 1% increase over the year-ago quarter.
On a per share basis, reflecting the impact of our share repurchase program, excess investment income increased 6%.
For the year, excess investment income grew 5%, while on a per share basis, it grew 8%.
In 2020, due to the impact of lower interest rates, we expect excess investment income to decline by 2% to 3%, but on a per share basis, be flat to up 1%.
Now regarding the investment portfolio, invested assets are $17.3 billion, including $16.4 billion of fixed maturities and amortized cost.
Now the fixed maturities $15.7 billion are investment-grade with an average rating of A-, and below investment-grade bonds were $674 million, compared to $666 million a year ago.
The percentage of below investment-grade bonds to fixed maturities is 4.1%, compared to 4.2% a year ago.
Bonds rated BBB are 55% of the fixed maturity portfolio, down from 58% at the end of 2018.
Finally, we had net unrealized gains in the fixed maturity portfolio of $2.5 billion, $97 million lower than the previous quarter.
In the fourth quarter, we invested $449 million in investment-grade fixed maturities, primarily in the municipal, industrial and financial sectors.
We invested at an average yield of 4.11%, an average rating of A+ and an average life of 31 years.
For the entire portfolio, the fourth-quarter yield was 5.41%, down 15 basis points from the yield of fourth-quarter 2018.
As of December 31, the portfolio yield was approximately 5.41%.
For 2020, at the midpoint of our guidance, we assumed an average new money yield of 4.10% for the full year.
Fortunately, the impact of lower new money rates on our investment income is somewhat limited as we expect to have an average turnover of less than 2% per year in our investment portfolio over the next five years.
The parent began the year with liquid assets of $41 million.
In addition to these liquid assets, the parent generated excess cash flow in 2019 of $374 million, as compared to $349 million in 2018.
Thus, including the assets on hand at the beginning of the year, we had $415 million available to the parent during the year.
As discussed on our prior calls, we accelerated the repurchase of $25 million of Globe Life shares into December of 2018, with commercial paper and parent cash.
We utilized $20 million of the 2019 excess cash flow to reduce the commercial paper for those repurchases, that left $395 million available for other uses, including the $50 million of liquid assets we normally retain as a parent.
In the fourth quarter, we spent $93 million to buy 930,000 Globe Life shares at an average price of $99.82.
For the full-year 2019, we spent $350 million of parent company cash to acquire 3.9 million shares at an average price of $89.04.
So far in 2020, we have spent $33.5 million to buy 322,000 shares at an average price of $104.20.
The parent ended the year with liquid assets of approximately $45 million.
While our 2019 statutory earnings have not yet been finalized, we expect excess cash flow in 2020 to be in the range of $375 million to $395 million.
Thus, including the assets on hand at January 1, we currently expect to have around $420 million to $440 million of cash and liquid assets available to the parent in 2020.
As noted on previous calls, Globe Life has targeted a consolidated company-action-level RBC ratio in the range of 300% to 320% for 2019.
For 2020, we will continue to target a consolidated company-action-level RBC ratio in the range of 300% to 320%.
As Gary previously noted, net operating income per share for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $1.70.
In addition, net operating income per share for the full-year 2019 was $6.75.
This was $0.01 above the midpoint of our previous guidance.
For 2020, we are projecting that net operating income per share will be in the range of $7.03 to $7.23.
The $7.13 midpoint of this guidance is slightly lower than previous guidance due to higher-than-expected employee pension and healthcare costs in 2020.

Summary:
In the fourth quarter, net income was $187 million or $1.69 per share, compared to $165 million or $1.45 per share a year ago.
Net operating income for the quarter was $188 million or $1.70 per share, a per share increase of 9% from a year ago.
As Gary previously noted, net operating income per share for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $1.70.
For 2020, we are projecting that net operating income per share will be in the range of $7.03 to $7.23.