Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Announces Earnings Results

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 17.24%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $83.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac has a one year low of $64.10 and a one year high of $86.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.87.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James raised their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.