Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target Increased to $100.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price target upped by Piper Sandler from $95.00 to $100.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $83.46.

Aflac Trading Down 0.3 %

AFL stock opened at $89.04 on Friday. Aflac has a 1-year low of $69.00 and a 1-year high of $91.15. The firm has a market cap of $50.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.03 and its 200-day moving average is $83.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Aflac by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 438,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,427,000 after buying an additional 62,491 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 412.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 106,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,180,000 after buying an additional 86,069 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Aflac by 161.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,723,000 after buying an additional 191,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beck Bode LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 141,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,149,000 after buying an additional 12,931 shares in the last quarter. 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.