California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 9,304 Shares of American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AFG) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 199,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in American Financial Group were worth $27,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in American Financial Group by 86.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 340 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of American Financial Group by 91.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 520 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in American Financial Group by 301.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 702 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in American Financial Group in the third quarter worth $125,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in American Financial Group by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of American Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $164.00 to $144.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

American Financial Group Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE AFG opened at $130.12 on Friday. American Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.97 and a fifty-two week high of $150.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $127.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.74.

American Financial Group (NYSE:AFG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.03). American Financial Group had a return on equity of 20.30% and a net margin of 10.66%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that American Financial Group, Inc. will post 10.5 earnings per share for the current year.

American Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. American Financial Group’s payout ratio is 30.27%.

Insider Activity at American Financial Group

In other news, Director Gregory G. Joseph acquired 3,000 shares of American Financial Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $121.00 per share, for a total transaction of $363,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 57,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,954,717. This trade represents a 5.51 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 14.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

American Financial Group 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.