Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $97.93.

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after buying an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,437,000 after buying an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in Aflac by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,382,000 after acquiring an additional 83,289 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 5.6% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,279,000 after acquiring an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $111.32 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.