Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Aflac Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of AFL traded down $1.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.39. 2,720,216 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,275,804. The company has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.00 and its 200-day moving average is $81.86.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Company Profile

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.