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

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.15.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $1,558,000. abrdn plc grew its position in Aflac by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,604,000 after purchasing an additional 100,937 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 353.3% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 11,499 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Aflac by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,676,000 after purchasing an additional 348,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, G&S Capital LLC grew its position in Aflac by 65.1% in the 4th quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 12,551 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $83.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $48.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $82.61 and its 200-day moving average is $81.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. Aflac has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

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.