Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 7,189 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lessened its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 18.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,683 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,189 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $3,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 7,001.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 658,303 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,597,000 after buying an additional 554,803 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $172,338,000 after buying an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.66 on Friday, hitting $112.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,606,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,215,278. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $110.73 and a 200-day moving average of $100.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business's revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac 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.