Wall Street Zen Downgrades Aflac (NYSE:AFL) to Sell

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $120.00 price target on Aflac in a report on Monday, December 15th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $119.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $107.00 price target on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, February 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.73.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $112.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.06. Aflac has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $119.32. The firm has a market cap of $58.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.12). Aflac had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 21.24%.The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 7,387 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $839,015.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 40,526 shares in the company, valued at $4,602,943.08. This represents a 15.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 16,331 shares of company stock worth $1,817,720 over the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,861 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 4,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 509.1% during the 2nd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 143,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,170,000 after buying an additional 120,231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.