Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Evercore ISI set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, November 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, November 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $71.75.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $61.29 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.94. Aflac has a 52 week low of $52.07 and a 52 week high of $74.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.23 and a 200 day moving average of $66.77.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.08. Aflac had a net margin of 21.54% and a return on equity of 13.69%. The business had revenue of $4.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 19,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.36, for a total value of $1,357,314.76. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 87,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,163,395.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 19,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.36, for a total value of $1,357,314.76. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 87,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,163,395.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction of $35,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,421,676.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,153,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,099,629,000 after acquiring an additional 352,873 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,300,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $901,933,000 after acquiring an additional 89,414 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,812,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $634,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640,984 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Aflac by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,755,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $318,476,000 after purchasing an additional 192,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S raised its position in shares of Aflac by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 5,061,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $325,902,000 after purchasing an additional 715,304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.22% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

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Aflac, Inc is a holding company. engages in the provision of financial protection services. It operates through the followings segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac United States (U.S.). The Aflac Japan segment offers life insurance, death benefits, and cash surrender values. The Aflac U.S. segment sells voluntary supplemental insurance products for people who already have major medical or primary insurance coverage.