Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $114.6364.

A number of brokerages have commented on AFL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Aflac from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th.

Aflac Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:AFL opened at $121.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $116.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.21. Aflac has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $122.80.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.70%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 744,916 shares of company stock worth $87,118,632. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AFL. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Evergreen Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.