Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target Raised to $113.00 at Morgan Stanley

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $113.00 in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI restated an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $107.8190 on Monday. Aflac has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $57.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $102.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,401,000. Natixis purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,441,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 133,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,794,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 111,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,547,000 after buying an additional 34,845 shares during the period. 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.