Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Buys 8,274 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 5.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 158,424 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,274 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB's holdings in Aflac were worth $17,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 valued at $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $524,846,000 after acquiring an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Aflac by 3.8% during the third 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. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 5.6% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $198,279,000 after purchasing an additional 117,504 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AFL traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $104.41. The stock had a trading volume of 1,789,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,207,506. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $110.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $58.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.97.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac's revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a boost from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac's payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $96.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America increased their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.73.

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.