Nov 4 (Reuters) - Loews Corp reported an increase in quarterly profit on Monday, helped by higher investment income and strong performance in its insurance unit.

The New York-based company's investment income jumped to $776 million in the third quarter from $592 million a year earlier.

Income attributable to Loews rose to $401 million, or $1.82 per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $253 million, or $1.12 per share, last year.

The company earns most of its revenue from its insurance unit CNA Financial , in which it holds a more than 90% stake, as per LSEG data.

The insurance unit reported an underlying combined ratio of 91.6% in its property and casualty business, compared with 90.4% a year earlier. A ratio below 100% means an insurer earned more in premiums than it paid out in claims.

CNA Financial's quarterly insurance premiums rose to $2.59 billion from $2.41 billion. "CNA performed well despite elevated industry catastrophe losses," Loews CEO James Tisch, who is set to retire at the end of 2024, said.

Analysts said in October that Hurricane Milton could cause losses of up to $100 billion for the global insurance industry.

(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta) ((Prakhar.srivastava2@thomsonreuters.com))