Piper Sandler Issues Positive Forecast for Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock Price

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from $118.00 to $124.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.61% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on AFL. Barclays dropped their target price on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded down $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $112.11. 127,206 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,910,216. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. Aflac has a 1-year low of $79.31 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $61.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $106.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.71.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $163,409,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 81.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.