Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Davis R M Inc.

Davis R M Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 371 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on AFL. 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $113.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.85. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

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.