American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) Raises Dividend to $0.80 Per Share

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.80 per share by the insurance provider on Friday, October 25th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This is an increase from American Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

American Financial Group has increased its dividend by an average of 12.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. American Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 23.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Financial Group to earn $11.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.3%.

American Financial Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AFG stock opened at $135.34 on Wednesday. American Financial Group has a 1 year low of $105.22 and a 1 year high of $137.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $131.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $129.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.46.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. American Financial Group had a net margin of 11.06% and a return on equity of 21.16%. American Financial Group’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Financial Group will post 10.96 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Citigroup cut American Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $144.00 to $137.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th.

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.