Written by StockNews.com

American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) late Wednesday posted better than expected first quarter earnings results, as its return on equity continued to improve.

The New York City-based insurance giant:

• reported Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.36, which was $0.29 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.07...[and]
• said its ROE of 6.3% and Core Adjusted ROE of 10.2% were driven by successful capital management and expense efficiencies.

Peter D. Hancock, AIG President and Chief Executive Officer, commented via press release:

“Our first quarter results highlight the success of the actions we have taken to execute on our strategy, strengthen our balance sheet, and improve earnings quality.

Operating results across our core Commercial and Consumer businesses improved and we continued to return excess capital to shareholders. Since January 1, 2016, we have returned over $18 billion of capital towards our $25 billion target.

We will continue to execute our strategy and further build on our position as a leading global insurance company.”

American International Group Inc. shares rose $1.16 (+1.88%) in after-hours trading Wednesday. Year-to-date, AIG has declined -5.29%, versus a 7.15% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

AIG currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of C (Neutral), and is ranked #41 of 59 stocks in the Insurance – Property & Casualty category.