Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. This is a boost from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Aflac has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 43 consecutive years. Aflac has a dividend payout ratio of 29.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Aflac to earn $6.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.2%.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $84.54. 2,334,325 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,271,883. Aflac has a 12 month low of $64.10 and a 12 month high of $86.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $83.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Aflac from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $82.15.

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.