Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $116.62.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Weiss Ratings raised Aflac from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, July 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.49, for a total transaction of $2,369,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 50,667,690 shares in the company, valued at $6,003,614,588.10. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 353,001 shares of company stock worth $41,449,740. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 27.8% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $609,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,091 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after acquiring an additional 67,650 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $420,078,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth $404,639,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Down 1.2%

Aflac stock opened at $113.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $120.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.56. Aflac has a twelve month low of $105.43 and a twelve month high of $130.22.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance products. Its coverage is designed to help policyholders manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, illness, hospitalization, disability and critical illness.

Through its U.S. operations, Aflac markets policies to individuals, businesses and employees through workplace benefit programs, independent agents and brokers. The company is also a major provider of supplemental insurance in Japan, where it offers products focused primarily on cancer, medical and income-support coverage.

Founded in 1955 in Columbus, Georgia, as American Family Life Assurance Company, the business adopted the name Aflac in 1990.