Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Receives $103.93 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $103.93.

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Aflac Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $106.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.13, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. Aflac has a 1-year low of $79.69 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $106.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after acquiring an additional 288,482 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $543,154,000 after acquiring an additional 556,394 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $349,699,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.