Aflac - AFL Stock Forecast, Price & News

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates through two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care income support, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan. The Aflac U.S. segment provides cancer, accident, short-term disability, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental, vision, long-term care and disability, and term and whole life insurance products in the United States. It sells its products through sales associates, brokers, independent corporate agencies, individual agencies, and affiliated corporate agencies. The company was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL traded up $1.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.03. 2,090,744 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,446,873. The company has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.93. Aflac has a 12-month low of $51.28 and a 12-month high of $67.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $56.38 and a 200 day moving average of $59.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.27. Aflac had a net margin of 20.37% and a return on equity of 12.40%. The company had revenue of $5.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 24th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 24.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $69.00 to $66.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 6th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, May 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $62.00 in a report on Monday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Barbara K. Rimer sold 11,026 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.49, for a total transaction of $644,910.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,326.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Teresa L. White sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.24, for a total value of $592,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 134,256 shares in the company, valued at $7,953,325.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Barbara K. Rimer sold 11,026 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.49, for a total transaction of $644,910.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,326.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,326 shares of company stock worth $1,253,907. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.