Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $155.43 Million Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,390,217 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,660 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.25% of Aflac worth $155,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 658,303 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10,878.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,597,000 after purchasing an additional 554,803 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $110.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,456,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,229,972. The company has a market cap of $61.35 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $110.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. 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.