Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases New Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 82,605 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,235,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Aflac to $107.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL traded down $4.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $107.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,318,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,206,267. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $111.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.63. The stock has a market cap of $59.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.97.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.