Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th.

Aflac has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 43 consecutive years. Aflac has a payout ratio of 27.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Aflac to earn $7.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $112.04 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.89. The company has a market capitalization of $62.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aflac will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

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.