Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Price Target Raised to $84.00 at Morgan Stanley

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $84.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Aflac from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Down 0.0 %

AFL opened at $80.27 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $46.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 80.0% during the first 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. Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 471.4% during the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.