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

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $97.93.

A number of research firms have recently commented on AFL. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Aflac by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $0.22 on Tuesday, reaching $110.65. The company had a trading volume of 1,505,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,232,685. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.96. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $110.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.95. Aflac has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

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.