JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target to $117.00

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Aflac’s price target from $108 to $117 while keeping a neutral rating, implying a modest downside from the stock’s current price.
• Analyst views on Aflac remain mixed overall: the consensus rating is still Hold, with a consensus target price of $115.50 across several recent brokerage updates.
• Aflac recently reported Q1 earnings of $1.75 per share, missing estimates, even though revenue came in slightly above expectations and rose 27.9% year over year.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $108.00 to $117.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the financial services provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective indicates a potential downside of 4.75% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AFL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Aflac from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $115.50.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL traded down $1.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $122.83. 300,558 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,389,273. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $62.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $118.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.83. Aflac has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $125.93.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 744,916 shares of company stock valued at $87,118,632 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,552,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Tema ETFs LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 8,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC raised its position in Aflac by 163.9% in the second quarter. Torren Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.2% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 156,153 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $18,309,000 after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

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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