Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Given New $110.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has raised Aflac's price target to $110.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.10% from its current trading price.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, despite a 19% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company initiated a share buyback plan, allowing for the repurchase of 100 million outstanding shares, signaling management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $108.00 to $110.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.10% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AFL. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $102.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $110.67.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock traded down $0.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $111.22. 637,967 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,219,699. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $59.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86. The company's fifty day moving average is $107.06 and its 200-day moving average is $105.50. Aflac has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.44.

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

Aflac announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter valued at $432,201,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the first quarter valued at about $140,746,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 16.7% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,167,886 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $439,545,000 after acquiring an additional 594,971 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $60,954,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Aflac by 459.0% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 701,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $73,969,000 after buying an additional 575,915 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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