Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Short Interest Update

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,840,000 shares, a drop of 8.5% from the August 31st total of 14,030,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 80.0% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $112.72. 863,494 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,257,500. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac has a 12 month low of $74.89 and a 12 month high of $112.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.36.

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.