Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Trims Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec reduced its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 295,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 57,500 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.05% of Aflac worth $33,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.1% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,044,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,744,000 after purchasing an additional 21,217 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in Aflac by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 37,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,162,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $930,000. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 15.8% during the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 6,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $114.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $111.23 and its 200 day moving average is $101.63.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac Company 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.