Aflac Inc. (NYSE:AFL) traded with a subtraction of -$0.92 to close at $76.75on Friday, a downside of -1.18 percent. An average of 1,691,136 shares of common stock have been traded in the last five days. There was a gain of $0.49 in the past week, and it reached a new high 28 times over the past 12 months. The last 20 days have seen an average of 2,208,879 shares traded, while the 50-day average volume stands at 2,213,392.
AFL stock has increased by 2.77% in the last month. The company shares reached their 1-month lowest point of $73.62 on 09/06/23. With the stock rallying to its 52-week high on 08/07/23, shares of the company touched a low of $56.04 and a high of $78.43 in 52 weeks. It has reached a new high 7 times so far this year and achieved 6.69% or $4.86 in price. In spite of this, the price is down -2.14% from the 52-week high.
Insider Transactions
AFL stock investors should be aware that Aflac Inc. (AFL) stock had its last reported insider trading activity 39 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 Inc. (AFL) has a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 10.28, which compares with the N/A for the broader industry. The stock’s beta is 0.91. Other valuation ratios to consider include the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio at 2.42, the price-to-book (PB) ratio at 2.24, and the price-to-cash flow ratio at 14.27.
The company has a payout ratio of 24.29%. 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 0.35 and a total debt to equity ratio of 0.35 for the quarter ending June 29.
For investors, determining the potential profitability of the investment also depends on the performance of the company’s management. In the past 12 months, Aflac Inc.’s return on assets was 3.48%.
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 Inc.’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 Inc.’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 Inc. (AFL) price momentum. RSI 9-day as of the close on 28 September was 54.31%, suggesting the stock is Neutral, with historical volatility in this time frame at 12.15%.
As of today, AFL’s price is $76.95 +0.64% or $0.49 from its 5-day moving average. AFL is currently trading +2.99% higher than its 20-day SMA and +13.54% higher than its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is +6.09% above the SMA50 and +8.44% above the SMA200.
The stochastic %K and %D were 70.99% and 72.02%, respectively, and the average true range (ATR) was 1.08. With the 14-day stochastic at 50.00% and the average true range at 1.08, the RSI (14) stands at 56.22%. The stock has reached 0.31 on the 9-day MACD Oscillator while the 14-day reading was at 0.37.
Analyst Ratings
Morgan Stanley downgraded Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL) to a an Equal-weight rating in its most recent analyst report. Previously, the stock was rated as an Overweight.
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 $77.00. Taking a look at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts for Aflac Inc. (AFL) stock is $76.73.
