Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $117.20.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Mizuho lowered their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 price target (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th.

Aflac Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:AFL opened at $118.79 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $116.31 and a 200-day moving average of $117.33. The stock has a market cap of $59.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Aflac has a 1 year low of $105.43 and a 1 year high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Aflac will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 713,662 shares of company stock worth $83,323,978. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kenora Financial LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 0.6% during the third quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 35,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,022,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Focused Alpha LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Focused Alpha LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 4,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its position in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 6,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $766,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Aflac by 12.3% in the third quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 32,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,645,000 after acquiring an additional 3,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.