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

Key Points

• Aflac Incorporated has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" by 13 analysts, with two sell ratings, eight holds, and three buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is approximately $108.23.
• The company recently reported earnings of $1.78 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, despite a 19% decrease in revenue year-over-year.
• Aflac has approved a stock buyback program authorizing the repurchase of 100 million shares, signaling confidence in the company's valuation, alongside a quarterly dividend announcement of $0.58 per share.

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $108.5385.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 target price on Aflac and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 64.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,058 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 158,382 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $16,383,000 after buying an additional 9,777 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 110.7% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,315 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $653,000 after acquiring an additional 3,318 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 86,443 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,942,000 after acquiring an additional 3,842 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $105.35. 2,645,887 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,582,534. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $102.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.