Morgan Stanley Raises Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target to $84.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $84.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on AFL. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $80.26 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.46.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 80.0% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 471.4% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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.