NEW YORK (AP) — Insurance company Aflac Inc. stock soared at mid-afternoon trading Wednesday after the company reported that its profit more than doubled on a surprise increase in sales in Japan.

THE SPARK: The company said late Tuesday that rising sales of insurance policies in Japan helped more than double its first-quarter income to $785 million from $389 million a year earlier. Its per-share income of $1.68 trumped analysts' average forecast for $1.65 a share.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.