Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $83.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.87.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.