Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.23 EPS

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share.

Aflac Trading Up 6.4 %

NYSE AFL traded up $6.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $101.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,733,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,218,899. Aflac has a 52-week low of $72.78 and a 52-week high of $104.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.69.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Aflac

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.