TD Cowen Begins Coverage on Aflac (NYSE:AFL)

by · The Cerbat Gem

TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Free Report) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $102.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $97.53.

View Our Latest Research Report on Aflac

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $113.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $107.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for 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%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 21.16%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 80.0% during 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 in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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