Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Cut by Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc.

Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 550 shares during the quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 valued at $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings 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 worth $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.8% during 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 during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,279,000 after purchasing an additional 117,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Aflac by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.53.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded down $0.49 on Friday, hitting $114.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,996,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,239,971. The company has a market capitalization of $65.06 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.