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

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

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut Aflac from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $80.26 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac has a 12 month low of $64.10 and a 12 month high of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $46.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Aflac by 0.7% in the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,415,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,145,794,000 after acquiring an additional 107,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Aflac by 0.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,888,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,297,000 after acquiring an additional 105,298 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Aflac by 9.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Aflac by 5.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,953,000 after acquiring an additional 368,704 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% 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.