Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Given New $82.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price objective increased by Truist Financial from $80.00 to $82.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AFL. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aflac from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given 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 $82.31.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $83.21 on Friday. Aflac has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $47.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $83.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.87.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $197,820,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Aflac by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 8,861.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,113,000 after purchasing an additional 444,829 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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.