American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.80 Per Share

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 1st, Zacks reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This is a positive change from American Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

American Financial Group has raised its dividend by an average of 12.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. American Financial Group has a payout ratio of 23.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 NYSE AFG opened at $135.34 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.45. American Financial Group has a 52-week low of $105.22 and a 52-week high of $137.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.78.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.45 by $0.11. American Financial Group had a return on equity of 21.16% and a net margin of 11.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that American Financial Group will post 10.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Citigroup lowered shares of American Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $144.00 to $137.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th.

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.