Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Receives $109.45 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.4545.

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $200,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Aflac by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 75,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,293,000 after buying an additional 8,091 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $106.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $57.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $108.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.62. Aflac has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.43.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

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.