Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.63 EPS

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.63, FiscalAI reports. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Aflac Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $2.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $127.52. The stock had a trading volume of 788,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,234,231. The firm has a market cap of $63.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac has a twelve month low of $105.76 and a twelve month high of $131.19.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 26.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 price target (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.20.

Key Stories Impacting Aflac

Here are the key news stories impacting Aflac this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Adjusted Q3 EPS was $2.43, above the roughly $1.80 analyst consensus. Aflac also reported that its U.S. claims ratio fell 490 basis points, a potential sign of better underwriting results, though the sustainability of the improvement matters. Aflac Q3 earnings U.S. claims ratio
• Positive Sentiment: Aflac declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, payable December 1, and extended its dividend-growth streak to 44 years. The payout signals continued shareholder returns, although the 1.9% indicated yield is modest. Dividend announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is repositioning its investment portfolio. The reported portfolio losses weighed on GAAP results, while stronger U.S. business results offered an offset; investors will look for evidence that the repositioning improves returns over time. Portfolio losses and U.S. results
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue was $3.27 billion, well below the $4.12 billion consensus cited in several reports, and down 31% year over year. GAAP net earnings were $303 million, or $0.61 per share, reflecting the contrast between adjusted earnings and reported results. Aflac Q3 results

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This trade represents a 0.23% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978 over the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.