Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AFL. Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 price objective (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.58.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of AFL opened at $120.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $121.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.95. Aflac has a 1-year low of $104.66 and a 1-year high of $130.22. The stock has a market cap of $60.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.09, for a total transaction of $1,574,170.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,872,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,160,174,032.10. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.10, for a total value of $74,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 32,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,059,311. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 541,333 shares of company stock valued at $63,345,006. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.