American Financial Group Lifted Its Dividend 10.2% and Kept Buying Back Stock
American Financial Group had a good second quarter, rewarding investors while also preparing for a tougher market.
Overview
American Financial Group (NYSE: AFG) is an $11 billion market cap property and casualty insurer. It has an impressive 21-year streak of annual dividend increases. And the last dividend hike, announced in Aug. 2026, was a huge 10.2%. Add in a well-above-market dividend yield of nearly 2.5%, and there's good reason for dividend growth investors to do a deep dive here. But there's another piece to the story: stock buybacks.
A key metric for property and casualty insurers is the combined ratio. This metric compares the company's costs (expenses and claims) to the premiums it earns. A number under 100% means that a company is making a profit. The lower the percentage, the better. American Financial Group's combined ratio in the second quarter of 2026 was 91.6%. But the real story is that it improved from 93.1% in the same quarter of 2025. Things are going well for the company.
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Originally published at www.fool.com.