Sunbelt Securities Inc. Reduces Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. trimmed its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership purchased a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Aflac by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1 %

AFL stock opened at $104.52 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $110.14 and a 200 day moving average of $102.84. The firm has a market cap of $58.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 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.