Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $104.93.

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,149.60. The trade was a 29.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 10,730 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,577,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 169.8% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,725 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $104.18 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $56.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $88.00 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The business's 50 day moving average price is $104.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

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.

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