Bank of America Increases Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target to $105.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its target price upped by analysts at Bank of America from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AFL. Piper Sandler upped their target price 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. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.15.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $92.68 on Thursday. Aflac has a 52 week low of $69.00 and a 52 week high of $93.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $52.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.38.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $197,820,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 605,210 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 8,861.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,113,000 after buying an additional 444,829 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Aflac by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after buying an additional 348,400 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,588,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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.