Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $91.00 to $98.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Aflac traded as high as $105.01 and last traded at $105.01, with a volume of 1052 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $104.76.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on AFL. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,190,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $263,254,000 after acquiring an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $197,820,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 5.6% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,279,000 after acquiring an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $59.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.