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Aegon (AEG) Concludes EUR 200M Stock Repurchase Program

Aegon N.V. AEG announced that it has finished its EUR 200 million stock repurchase program. The buyback was announced on Feb 9 of this year and was aimed at returning surplus cash to stockholders. The repurchase started on Feb 10 and ended on Jun 2.

Utilizing the buyback program, AEG repurchased 46,797,567 common shares through a third party, where the average price was recorded at EUR 4.2737 per share. The company intends to cancel the repurchased stocks.

The diversified international insurance company takes shareholder-value boosting measures from time to time. Last year, it bought back shares worth EUR 300 million in three tranches through a similar plan. The company’s cash-generating ability helped it to take such a move. However, in 2023, its operations are likely to face some hiccups.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEG’s full-year earnings signals a 68.4% decline from the year-ago level. Moreover, its price to earnings for the forward 12-month period is at 16.8%, significantly higher than the industry average of 8.5%, making it overvalued.

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The latest news of share buyback follows its completion of the divestment of the Poland and Romania businesses. This helped in reaching the last milestone of selling the insurance, pension and asset management business of AEG, spread across Central and Eastern Europe to the Austria-based insurance group, VIG. Proceeds from the divestment are expected to support the financial flexibility of Aegon and lower its debt level.

Price Performance

Aegon shares have declined 13.7% in the past year compared with the 13.3% fall of the industry it belongs to.

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Zacks Investment Research


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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Aegon currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader finance space are Ambac Financial Group, Inc. AMBC, American International Group, Inc. AIG and Lemonade, Inc. LMND, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ambac Financial’s 2023 earnings has improved 68% over the past 30 days. During this time, AMBC has witnessed one upward estimate revision against none in the opposite direction.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for American International’s 2023 earnings indicates 44.6% year-over-year growth. AIG beat earnings estimates thrice in the past four quarters and missed once, with an average surprise of 9.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Lemonade’s 2023 earnings suggests 15.9% year-over-year growth. Also, the consensus mark for LMND’s 2023 revenues implies a 53.6% year-over-year surge.

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Aegon NV (AEG) : Free Stock Analysis Report

American International Group, Inc. (AIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (AMBC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Lemonade, Inc. (LMND) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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