Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $107.07.

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $105.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,096 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AFL. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 24.4% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Optas LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 3.5% during the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Apexium Financial LP grew its holdings in Aflac by 3.4% during the first quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE AFL traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $101.78. The company had a trading volume of 4,577,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,153,065. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac has a one year low of $93.00 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $55.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.81. The company's fifty day moving average is $103.33 and its 200-day moving average is $105.18.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. 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.