JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target to $94.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price target boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $90.00 to $94.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

AFL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.13.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $102.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $57.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.66. Aflac has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm’s revenue 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. Analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Aflac by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,437,000 after purchasing an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Aflac by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,382,000 after purchasing an additional 83,289 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,279,000 after buying an additional 117,504 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.