JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock Price

Key Points

• JPMorgan lowered Aflac’s price target from $117 to $116 and maintained a neutral rating, implying roughly 4.27% downside from the reported share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with Aflac holding a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $117.58, despite several firms raising their targets.
• Aflac’s latest quarterly earnings slightly missed expectations at $1.75 per share versus $1.76 forecast, while revenue exceeded estimates at $4.22 billion; shares were trading down 0.6% at $121.17.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $117.00 to $116.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the financial services provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s target price points to a potential downside of 4.27% from the stock's current price.

AFL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $138.00 price target (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $117.58.

Aflac Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $121.17. The company had a trading volume of 210,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,357,041. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac has a one year low of $103.51 and a one year high of $130.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $120.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $61.68 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.60.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 695,673 shares of company stock worth $81,436,614. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,301,056,000 after buying an additional 6,759,169 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at $4,093,787,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $499,216,000 after acquiring an additional 67,650 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $420,078,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Aflac by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $358,555,000 after purchasing an additional 603,426 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac's product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.

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