Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Barclays

Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued an underweight rating and a $96.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on AFL. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $92.50.

Aflac Trading Up 1.3 %

Aflac stock opened at $110.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $62.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac has a one year low of $73.62 and a one year high of $111.14. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $98.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.54.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $626,000 after acquiring an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln National Corp raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 6,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during 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.