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

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

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Raymond James boosted 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $80.98 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $82.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AFL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $175,416,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 62.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,865,000 after buying an additional 1,897,212 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,812,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $634,004,000 after buying an additional 1,640,984 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $72,249,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,590,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,245,000 after buying an additional 809,730 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.