Caprock Group LLC Grows Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spinnaker Trust increased its holdings in Aflac by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $111.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $61.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.73, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $110.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.09.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 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.