Bloomington, Ill. ? State Farm, the largest home insurer in Missouri, Kansas and the nation, has ended its four-month moratorium on writing homeowner coverage for new customers in the two states.

On Friday, the Bloomington, Ill., insurance giant authorized agents in Missouri and Kansas to offer coverage to new customers for the first time since mid-June.

Last spring, State Farm curbed homeowner insurance sales in more than 20 states to guard its financial strength against growing potential claims from weather catastrophes and other losses.

Curbs in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas were lifted Friday because sales growth has slowed to a pace consistent with State Farm’s targets, said Tara Eubanks-Zahn, a company spokeswoman in Kansas City.

State Farm insures about one in four homes in Missouri, Kansas and the rest of the United States. It and other insurers sometimes try to curb growth in specific markets so their exposure to potential claims from events such as the January ice storm in Kansas City doesn’t grow too much faster than premium and investment income.

Many of the competitors sought to curb their potential losses by declining to renew customers who had filed what the companies decided were too many claims.

Although the company has lifted its restrictions on Missouri and Kansas sales, State Farm will continue to watch growth patterns carefully, Eubanks-Zahn said.

State Farm’s chief spokesman in Bloomington, Dick Luedke, said late Friday afternoon that he didn’t have many details about how much curbs in other states were being relaxed, if at all.

“It’s safe to say that we’re still monitoring growth in pretty much every state,” Luedke said.