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

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 1st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given 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 increased its dividend by an average of 12.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 19 consecutive years. American Financial Group has a payout ratio of 27.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 %

American Financial Group stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $130.94. The stock had a trading volume of 36,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 357,222. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a PE ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.79. American Financial Group has a 12 month low of $118.97 and a 12 month high of $150.19.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 forecast that American Financial Group will post 10.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of American Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $164.00 to $144.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Gregory G. Joseph bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $121.00 per share, for a total transaction of $363,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 57,477 shares in the company, valued at $6,954,717. The trade was a 5.51 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 14.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.