Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Invests $246,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

Aflac Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $107.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $111.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.01. 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 data 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 business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

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.