Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 587,039 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 21,734 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.11% of Aflac worth $65,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,138 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in Aflac by 6.3% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,535,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1,273.4% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 10,575 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 9,805 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Down 0.7 %

AFL stock traded down $0.77 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $104.23. 1,827,476 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,210,961. The company has a market cap of $57.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.97. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $110.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.47.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Aflac's payout ratio is 30.12%.

About Aflac

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.