Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Announces Earnings Results

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Aflac Trading Down 0.6 %

AFL stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Thursday, reaching $84.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,761,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,301,187. Aflac has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $48.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.00 and a 200 day moving average of $81.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an "in-line" rating to an "underperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $82.15.

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.