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

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG - Get Free Report) declared a special dividend on Friday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 2.00 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, March 28th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th.

American Financial Group has increased 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 27.2% 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 Price Performance

Shares of AFG traded down $2.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $125.96. 503,109 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 311,462. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. American Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $118.97 and a fifty-two week high of $150.19. The company has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's fifty day moving average is $131.28 and its 200 day moving average is $134.55.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.12 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that American Financial Group will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AFG. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of American Financial Group from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on American Financial Group from $135.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded American Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $144.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gregory G. Joseph acquired 3,000 shares of American Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $121.00 per share, for a total transaction of $363,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 57,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 corporate insiders.

American Financial Group Company Profile

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.