Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Announces Earnings Results

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share.

Aflac Stock Up 6.6 %

Shares of AFL traded up $6.27 on Thursday, reaching $101.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,183,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,220,250. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Aflac has a twelve month low of $72.78 and a twelve month high of $104.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.76 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $90.25 and a 200-day moving average of $85.47.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AFL. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.