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

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%.

Aflac has increased its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 43 consecutive years. Aflac has a payout ratio of 28.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Aflac to earn $7.08 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 28.2%.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $110.09 on Thursday. Aflac has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $62.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $110.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.46.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The firm’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aflac will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.