Barclays Boosts Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target to $98.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $96.00 to $98.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on AFL. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.13.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $103.51 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $57.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Park National Corp OH lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 4,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its holdings in Aflac by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 16,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Aflac by 825.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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.