Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC Makes New $239,000 Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,912 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 79.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 12,131 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth about $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Aflac by 576.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 8,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 6,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 161.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,723,000 after purchasing an additional 191,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. Citigroup boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $112.04 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $62.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $110.46 and its 200 day moving average is $99.89. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.