JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock Price

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) had its price target hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $94.00 to $96.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

AFL has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.29.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $112.32 on Wednesday. Aflac has a 1 year low of $79.31 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $61.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $163,409,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Aflac by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Aflac by 81.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.