Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wolfe Research

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wolfe Research to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $99.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Down 4.3%

AFL stock opened at $116.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $104.66 and a fifty-two week high of $130.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $121.59 and a 200-day moving average of $116.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. Aflac’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.33, for a total transaction of $1,686,487.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,844,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,168,986,237.70. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.10, for a total value of $74,460.00. Following the sale, the director owned 32,710 shares in the company, valued at $4,059,311. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 507,333 shares of company stock valued at $59,450,256 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth $27,000. 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.