Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 7,189 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lessened its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,189 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 658,303 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 10,878.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,597,000 after purchasing an additional 554,803 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $112.09 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $110.66 and a 200-day moving average of $100.24. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $62.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 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.