Mizuho Markets Americas LLC cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,158 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,800 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $6,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Aflac by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $254,382,000 after acquiring an additional 83,289 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $198,279,000 after acquiring an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Aflac Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $111.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,895,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,230,304. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $110.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.
Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The company's revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.
Aflac Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Aflac's payout ratio is presently 30.12%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on AFL
Aflac Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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