Carl Lindner (Insider Trades), co-CEO and co-president of American Financial Group Inc. (AFG), sold 100,000 shares of the company on Sept. 26. The average price per share was $75.14, for a total transaction of $7,514,000. American Financial Group is a holding company, and through the operations of Great American Insurance Group, American Financial is engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for businesses, and in the sale of traditional fixed and fixed-indexed annuities. The company has a market cap of $6.42 billion.
Including the aforementioned transaction, Lindner sold 740,000 shares in 10 transactions since the end of 2012. There were 18 American Financial insider sells totaling 583,283 shares in 2016 to date. There were 24 Ă‚ insider sells of the company totaling 691,610 shares in 2015, and 14 insider sells totaling 295,858 shares in 2014. There were 28 insider sells totaling 836,128 shares in 2013. Overall, American Financial's month end price increased each year since 2013, however, the total number of insider sells and the total insider sell volume has not increased since then. For more information about insider trades with American Financial Group, click here.
The company reported operating earnings of $183 million for the second quarter that ended June 30. Operating earnings increased from $176 million that was reported in the previous year’s second quarter. American Financial's net earnings decreased from $141 million, or $1.57 per share, to $54 million, or 62 cents per share, when comparing the same periods of time. Carl H. Lindner and S. Craig Lindner, co-CEOs of American Financial, commented that they were “pleased to report strong operating profitability” in both Specialty Property and Casualty and Annuity businesses during the second quarter of 2016. They also stated that the company had about $950 million in excess capital, which will be “deployed into AFG’s core businesses” as they “identify potential for healthy, profitable organic growth, and opportunities to expand [the company’s] specialty niche businesses through acquisitions and start-ups.” The company also announced the registered offering of $300 million of 3.50% Senior Notes due Aug. 15, 2026. The Senior Notes were priced at 99.608% of their principal amount. The net proceeds from the issuance of the Notes to fund a portion of the purchase price to acquire all shares of National Interstate Corp. (NATL, Financial) common stock not currently owned by its wholly owned subsidiary, Great American Insurance Co. The merger transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2016. The aggregate purchase price to acquire the remaining National Interstate shares will be approximately $320 million, and includes a 50 cent per share special cash dividend payable to National Interstate shareholders immediately prior to the time of the merger. American Financial's board of directors also approved an increase in the company’s regular annual dividend from $1.12 to $1.25 per share of common stock.
According to GuruFocus, American Financial Group has a business predictability rank of 2 out of 5 stars. For more information about business predictability rank, click here.
Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) decreased their stake in American Financial during the second quarter.Ă‚ Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio) sold 1,196 shares for an average per share price of $70.85, reducing his stake in the company by 16.62%. Stahl reduced his stake in American Financial every quarter since the third quarter of 2015. The total estimated gain of the holding since the first quarter of 2014 is 24%. Simons sold 113,400 shares of the company in the second quarter of 2016, decreasing his stake in the company by 39.87%. In the previous quarter, Simons purchased 253,900 shares of American Financial for an average per share price of $68.53, increasing his stake by 832.46%. For more information about guru transactions with American Financial Group, click here.
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