Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target Raised to $124.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Bank of America from $115.00 to $124.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 11.27% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AFL. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.53.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.38 on Thursday, reaching $111.44. 546,053 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,247,242. The company has a market capitalization of $63.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $107.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.51.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 658,303 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,588,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,243,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,029,000 after acquiring an additional 268,694 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.