Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AFL. Piper Sandler increased 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 raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac to $107.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.13.

Aflac Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $103.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Aflac has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.65. The company has a market cap of $57.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park National Corp OH increased its position in Aflac by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 4,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in Aflac by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 16,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its holdings in Aflac by 7.6% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Aflac by 825.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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.