Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $102.00 to $103.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective indicates a potential downside of 2.86% from the company's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AFL. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $104.07.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $106.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The business's fifty day moving average price is $107.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.76. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $83.27 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AFL. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $948,000. Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in Aflac by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 273,466 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $1,014,000. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Aflac by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 108,405 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

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.

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