Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%.

Aflac has increased its dividend by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 43 consecutive years. Aflac has a dividend payout ratio of 29.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Aflac to earn $6.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $95.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $96.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $90.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.47.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Aflac will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.46.

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.