Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

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

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $82.65. 2,120,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,267,037. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. 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 has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.86.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 25.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.