New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $47.85 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 427,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,069 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Aflac worth $47,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 32.2% during the third quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 11,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after buying an additional 2,858 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 5.8% during the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 14,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,600,000 after buying an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Sicart Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth about $235,000. Argyle Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth about $237,000. Finally, Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth about $240,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.53.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $110.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $62.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.