Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) finished Friday with a subtraction of -$0.06 to close at $74.25, a downside of -0.08 percent. An average of 1,927,780 shares of common stock have been traded in the last five days. There was a fall of -$0.60 in the past week, and it reached a new high 23 times over the past 12 months. The last 20 days have seen an average of 2,363,375 shares traded, while the 50-day average volume stands at 2,228,210.
AFL stock has increased by 3.04% in the last month. The company shares reached their 1-month lowest point of $71.97 on 07/31/23. With the stock rallying to its 52-week high on 08/07/23, shares of the company touched a low of $56.03 and a high of $78.43 in 52 weeks. It has reached a new high 7 times so far this year and achieved 3.21% or $2.31 in price. In spite of this, the price is down -5.33% from the 52-week high.
Insider Transactions
AFL stock investors should be aware that Aflac Incorporated (AFL) stock had its last reported insider trading activity 5 days ago on Aug 21. In this transaction, the insider spent $249,981. SVP, Global CRO, Chief Actuary, RIGGIERI ALBERT, disposed of 7,649 shares at a price of $76.09 on Aug 17. The insider now owns more than $582,051 worth of shares. Prior to that, Chairman & Rep. Director, ALIJ LAKE CHARLES D II went on to Sale 16,040 shares at $75.86 each on Aug 10. An amount of $1,216,810 was transacted.
Valuation Metrics
Aflac Incorporated (AFL) has a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 9.94. The stock’s beta is 0.92. Other valuation ratios to consider include the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio at 2.37, the price-to-book (PB) ratio at 2.18, and the price-to-cash flow ratio at 13.94.
The company has a payout ratio of 21.90%. The company’s most recent quarterly dividend payment was $0.42 a share, without any change from last year. Its latest increase dividend $0.02 reported on Tuesday November 8 2022.
Financial Health
Further, the company has a long term debt to equity ratio of 0.34 and a total debt to equity ratio of 0.34 for the quarter ending June 29.
Earnings Surprise
The company posted a net income of $1.63 billion in the quarter, while revenues of $1.19 billion were grew 15.06%. The analyst consensus anticipated Aflac Incorporated’s latest quarter earnings to come in at $1.43 per share, but it turned out to be $1.62, a 13.30% surprise. At the end of the quarter ending June 29, Aflac Incorporated’s stock balance sheet showed total debt was $12.36 billion. Shareholders own equity worth $594.06 million.
Technical Picture
From a technical analysis perspective, let’s take a brief look at Aflac Incorporated (AFL) price momentum. RSI 9-day as of the close on 25 August was 46.82%, suggesting the stock is Neutral, with historical volatility in this time frame at 12.93%.
As of today, AFL’s price is $73.91 -0.80% or -$0.60 from its 5-day moving average. AFL is currently trading +2.57% higher than its 20-day SMA and +14.83% higher than its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is +7.98% above the SMA50 and +9.48% above the SMA200.
The stochastic %K and %D were 21.60% and 14.84%, respectively, and the average true range (ATR) was 1.18. With the 14-day stochastic at 30.82% and the average true range at 1.20, the RSI (14) stands at 51.37%. The stock has reached -0.71 on the 9-day MACD Oscillator while the 14-day reading was at -1.31.
Analyst Ratings
Morgan Stanley downgraded Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL) to a an Equal-weight rating in its most recent analyst report. Previously, the stock was rated as an Overweight. The consensus rating for Aflac Incorporated (AFL) among analysts is Hold. According to current brokerage recommendations, 1 brokerage firm advise that investors sell AFL, while 12 suggest investors hold. There are 0 analysts who rate the stock as underweight. The stock is rated overweight by 1 analysts, while 2 others rate it as a “buy”.
What is AFL’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts predict a range of price targets between $58.00 and $86.00, with a median target of $76.00. Taking a look at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts for Aflac Incorporated (AFL) stock is $75.38.
