Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Given New $125.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $120.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.73% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $99.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.67.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $121.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $61.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.60. Aflac has a 52-week low of $103.28 and a 52-week high of $130.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $120.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 695,673 shares of company stock worth $81,436,614. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.