Wells Fargo & Company Boosts Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target to $106.00

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $90.00 to $106.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday. They set a hold rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $97.53.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $113.26 on Thursday. Aflac has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $64.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.90.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac will post 6.76 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AFL. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $862,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.7% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth $2,041,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 7.8% during the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $998,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.