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

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $98.73.

Several analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

AFL stock opened at $103.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $57.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.48.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 34.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Aflac by 825.8% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 643,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,964,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $576,000. 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.