American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) Sets New 52-Week Low at $118.31

American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG – Get Rating) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $118.31 and last traded at $118.51, with a volume of 34875 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $122.23.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on American Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.75.

American Financial Group Stock Up 1.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.81. The company has a market cap of $10.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.37 and a beta of 0.84.

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

American Financial Group Cuts Dividend

The business 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AFG. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. grew its position in shares of American Financial Group by 5,124.6% in the second quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 5,607,646 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,398,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500,315 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of American Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $94,625,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in American Financial Group by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,544,354 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,098,609,000 after acquiring an additional 313,115 shares during the last quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC acquired a new position in American Financial Group in the second quarter valued at $43,458,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in American Financial Group by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 701,998 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $96,370,000 after acquiring an additional 290,140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.04% of the company’s stock.

American Financial Group Company Profile

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American Financial Group, Inc is an insurance holding company. It 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. The company was founded by Carl Henry Lindner Jr.