American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• American Financial Group has been upgraded from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a shift in analyst sentiment.
• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target for American Financial Group shares from $125.00 to $127.00 while maintaining a "market perform" rating.
• American Financial Group reported earnings of $2.14 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and reflecting a 1.3% year-over-year revenue increase.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on American Financial Group from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, American Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $136.75.

American Financial Group Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE:AFG traded up $2.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $130.75. The company had a trading volume of 175,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 508,163. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $125.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.04. American Financial Group has a 12-month low of $114.73 and a 12-month high of $150.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The insurance provider reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. American Financial Group had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 9.21%. American Financial Group's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that American Financial Group will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. American Financial Group's payout ratio is 35.16%.

Institutional Trading of American Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AFG. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of American Financial Group by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 6,846 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of American Financial Group by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,052 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of American Financial Group by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,834 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $7,372,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Financial Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 59,029 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $8,075,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Financial Group by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 996,724 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $136,481,000 after buying an additional 63,193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.37% of the company's stock.

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.