Nwam LLC Invests $221,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Nwam LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 7,001.0% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 658,303 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10,878.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,597,000 after acquiring an additional 554,803 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $113.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $62.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.80 and its 200 day moving average is $100.85. 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 Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. 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.