F&G Annuities & Life (NYSE:FG) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of F&G Annuities & Life (NYSE:FG) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

FG has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays set a $31.00 price target on F&G Annuities & Life in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of F&G Annuities & Life in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of F&G Annuities & Life from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.00.

F&G Annuities & Life Stock Up 2.3%

FG stock opened at $23.27 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 1.46. F&G Annuities & Life has a 52 week low of $22.23 and a 52 week high of $43.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

F&G Annuities & Life (NYSE:FG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.43). F&G Annuities & Life had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $739.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.55 billion. On average, analysts forecast that F&G Annuities & Life will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F&G Annuities & Life Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. F&G Annuities & Life’s payout ratio is 54.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at F&G Annuities & Life

In other news, CEO Christopher O. Blunt bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $29.56 per share, for a total transaction of $147,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,117,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,030,225.76. This trade represents a 0.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F&G Annuities & Life by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,807,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,470,000 after buying an additional 1,753,709 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of F&G Annuities & Life by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,121,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,605,000 after acquiring an additional 280,594 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in F&G Annuities & Life by 93.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 847,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,144,000 after purchasing an additional 409,743 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of F&G Annuities & Life by 44.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 736,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,735,000 after acquiring an additional 225,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of F&G Annuities & Life by 870.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 642,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,085,000 after purchasing an additional 576,102 shares during the period. 95.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About F&G Annuities & Life

F&G Annuities & Life is the principal life insurance and annuity subsidiary of F&G Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: FG), a publicly traded financial services holding company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. The company focuses on designing and issuing retirement income solutions that address longevity risk, capital preservation, and wealth transfer for individual and institutional clients.

Its product suite includes fixed indexed annuities, which offer the potential for market-linked growth with downside protection; fixed-rate annuities, delivering guaranteed interest over a defined term; and a range of life insurance policies such as term, universal, and variable universal life.