Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock Price

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its target price increased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 2.97% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Up 0.7 %

AFL stock traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.21. 524,512 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,819,743. The company has a market cap of $60.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac has a 52 week low of $78.62 and a 52 week high of $115.50.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,533,000 after purchasing an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 79.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $979,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $948,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,395,000 after buying an additional 45,745 shares in the last quarter. 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.