American Financial Group reports Q1 core EPS $2.89, consensus $2.94

Book value per share, excluding unrealized gains related to fixed maturities, was $51.37 per share at March 31 compared to $53.73 at the end of 2022. For the three months ended March 31, 2023, AFG‘s growth in adjusted book value per share plus dividends was 4.2%. "AFG had approximately $1.0Bof excess capital at March 31. Returning capital to shareholders in the form of regular and special cash dividends and through opportunistic share repurchases is an important and effective component of our capital management strategy. In addition, our excess capital will be deployed into AFG’s core businesses as we identify potential for healthy, profitable organic growth, and opportunities to expand our specialty niche businesses through acquisitions of established businesses and acquisitions of or investments in start-ups that meet our target return thresholds. The definitive agreement to acquire Crop Risk Services from American International Group that was announced earlier today provides AFG with the exciting opportunity to deploy a portion of that excess capital to expand our crop business – a business we know very well – while leaving AFG with significant excess capital for additional share repurchases or special dividends."