Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Receives $98.73 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.73.

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10,878.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,597,000 after purchasing an additional 554,803 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Aflac by 471.4% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,080,000 after purchasing an additional 495,000 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,290,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $103.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $107.30 and a 200-day moving average of $104.16. Aflac has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 34.94%.

Aflac Company Profile

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.