Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Rating Increased to Strong Sell at Mizuho

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) was upgraded by investment analysts at Mizuho to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

AFL has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

Aflac Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $109.48 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.83. The firm has a market cap of $57.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 23.55% and a return on equity of 14.97%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, EVP Frederic Jean Guy Simard sold 1,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $193,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $153,450. The trade was a 55.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.00, for a total transaction of $114,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 23,615 shares in the company, valued at $2,692,110. This represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 31,766 shares of company stock valued at $3,549,706 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,161,000 after buying an additional 56,776 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Aflac by 7.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,047,000 after buying an additional 310,220 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Aflac by 16.7% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,167,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,545,000 after buying an additional 594,971 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter worth about $432,201,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Aflac by 0.3% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,926,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $438,621,000 after acquiring an additional 13,666 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.