American Financial Group, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.80 (NYSE:AFG)

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 1st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.80 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%.

American Financial Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 12.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 19 years. American Financial Group has a payout ratio of 27.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Financial Group to earn $11.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.4%.

American Financial Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of American Financial Group stock traded down $0.41 on Tuesday, hitting $130.94. 36,157 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 357,222. The company has a fifty day moving average of $127.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $133.79. American Financial Group has a one year low of $118.97 and a one year high of $150.19. The company has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.03). American Financial Group had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 10.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Financial Group will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered American Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $144.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregory G. Joseph acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $121.00 per share, for a total transaction of $363,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 57,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,717. The trade was a 5.51 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 14.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About American Financial Group

American Financial Group, Inc, an insurance holding company, provides specialty property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company offers property and transportation insurance products, such as physical damage and liability coverage for buses and trucks, inland and ocean marine, agricultural-related products, and other commercial property and specialty transportation coverages; specialty casualty insurance, including primarily excess and surplus, executive and professional liability, general liability, umbrella and excess liability, and specialty coverage in targeted markets, as well as customized programs for small to mid-sized businesses and workers’ compensation insurance; and specialty financial insurance products comprising risk management insurance programs for lending and leasing institutions, fidelity and surety products, and trade credit insurance.