Joseph L. Moskowitz Sells 600 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $85.83. 221,588 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,263,744. The company has a market cap of $48.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $83.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $1,558,000. abrdn plc grew its stake in Aflac by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,604,000 after buying an additional 100,937 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 353.3% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 11,499 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Aflac by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after purchasing an additional 348,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, G&S Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,626,000 after acquiring an additional 12,551 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.31.

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.