Stock in Focus - Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET)

There are a number of sell-side research firms which cover Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) and offer projections on earnings and future stock movement. On a consensus basis, analysts have a one year target price of 123.18 on the equity. The company has a trailing twelve month EPS of 6.04. The consensus analyst estimates according to First Call for the next quarter is 1.82. The current year EPS estimate on the stock is 7.38 and the EPS estimate for next year sits at 8.18.

Company shares opened the most recent trading session at 110.17 and at the time of writing the last Bid was at 110.52. In the current trading session the stock reached as high as 111.00 and dipped down to 110.01. Aetna Inc. Common Stock, a NYQ listed company, has a current market cap of 38.59B and on average over the past 3 months has seen 2039430 shares trade hands on a daily basis.

On a technical level the stock has a 50 Day Moving Average of 107.92. Based on a recent trade, this puts the equity at +2.41% away from that average. In comparing the stock’s current level to its extended history, the stock is trading -0.54% away from its 52-week high of 111.12 and +53.91% away from the stock’s low point over the past 52 weeks, which was 71.81.

The price to earnings ratio, or the valuation ratio of a company’s current share price compared to its per-share earnings sits at 18.29. This is an important indicator as a higher ratio typically suggests that investors are expecting higher future earnings growth compared to companies in the same industry with lower price to earnings ratios. When calculating in the EPS estimates for the current year from sell-side analysts, the Price to current year EPS stands at 14.98. Investors looking further ahead, will note that the Price to next year’s EPS is 13.51.

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