Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price target (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.53.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $125.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The company has a market cap of $62.83 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $117.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.29. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $105.76 and a fifty-two week high of $131.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.63. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Aflac will post 7.12 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.57%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 713,062 shares of company stock worth $83,249,518 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 55,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,159,000 after buying an additional 2,504 shares during the period. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the third quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 16,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,890,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 10.6% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 695 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 13.2% in the third quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 390,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,673,000 after acquiring an additional 45,700 shares during the period. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.9% in the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 19,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,151,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance to individuals and businesses. Its products are designed to help customers manage expenses that may not be covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, cancer, critical illness and hospital stays.

The company operates primarily in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac offers workplace benefits such as accident, disability, dental, vision and life insurance.