American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG – Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the insurance provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on American Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. They issued a market perform rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on American Financial Group from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on American Financial Group from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $162.75.

American Financial Group Price Performance

AFG opened at $116.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $134.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.50. American Financial Group has a 12-month low of $113.85 and a 12-month high of $152.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 0.84.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The insurance provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.95 by $0.04. American Financial Group had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 12.76%. The company had revenue of $1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.12 EPS. American Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that American Financial Group will post 11.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Financial Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a None dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th were given a dividend of $4.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 14th. American Financial Group’s payout ratio is 23.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at American Financial Group

In other American Financial Group news, insider John B. Berding sold 5,417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.62, for a total transaction of $740,070.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,929,659.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 14.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AFG. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of American Financial Group by 219.0% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 201 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of American Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of American Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in shares of American Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of American Financial Group by 166.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 331 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.04% of the company’s stock.

About American Financial Group

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American Financial Group, Inc is an insurance holding company, which engages in property and casualty insurance, focusing on commercial products for businesses, and in the sale of fixed and fixed-indexed annuities in the retail, financial institutions and education markets. Its Property and Casualty Insurance Products include Property and Transportation, Specialty Casualty, and Specialty Financial.