Aflac Incorporated Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:AFL)

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%.

Aflac has increased its dividend by an average of 14.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 43 years. Aflac has a payout ratio of 29.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Aflac to earn $6.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $95.34 on Thursday. Aflac has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $96.23. The company has a market capitalization of $54.17 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $90.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by 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.