Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target Raised to $84.00 at Morgan Stanley

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $84.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AFL. StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $80.98 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.60 billion, a PE ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.46. Aflac has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,415,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,145,794,000 after purchasing an additional 107,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,888,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $765,297,000 after purchasing an additional 105,298 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,953,000 after purchasing an additional 368,704 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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.