Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target Raised to $103.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $102.00 to $103.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AFL. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.21.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $106.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.07, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. Aflac has a 12 month low of $84.30 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after buying an additional 288,482 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Aflac by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $543,154,000 after acquiring an additional 556,394 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $349,699,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.