Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $108.2308.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth $432,201,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 12,313.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,237,000 after buying an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Aflac by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $140,746,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Aflac by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,167,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,545,000 after buying an additional 594,971 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $105.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $56.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $102.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.89.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business’s revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 52.61%.

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.