Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 2.37% from the stock’s previous close.

AFL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Aflac from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.73.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock opened at $127.01 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $118.10 and its 200-day moving average is $116.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $62.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.55. Aflac has a twelve month low of $105.76 and a twelve month high of $131.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 12.82% and a net margin of 21.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.49 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 700,062 shares of company stock valued at $81,675,348 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 27.8% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $609,843,000 after buying an additional 1,132,091 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after buying an additional 67,650 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,555,000 after acquiring an additional 603,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance to individuals and businesses. Its products are designed to help customers manage expenses that may not be covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, cancer, critical illness and hospital stays. The company operates primarily in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac offers workplace benefits such as accident, disability, dental, vision and life insurance. In Japan, it provides products including cancer, medical and life insurance.