American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) Announces Special Dividend of $2.00

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) declared a special dividend on Friday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 2.00 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, March 28th.

American Financial Group has raised its dividend by an average of 12.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 19 years. American Financial Group has a payout ratio of 27.2% indicating that 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 Price Performance

AFG traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $126.12. 34,114 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 432,536. The company has a market cap of $10.59 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.44. American Financial Group has a 1 year low of $118.97 and a 1 year high of $150.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 anticipate that American Financial Group will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of American Financial Group from $135.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of American Financial Group from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of American Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $164.00 to $144.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Transactions at American Financial Group

In other news, Director Gregory G. Joseph purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $121.00 per share, with a total value of $363,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 57,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,954,717. This represents a 5.51 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 14.50% of the company’s stock.

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.