Headinvest LLC Invests $240,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during 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 valued at $524,846,000 after acquiring an additional 281,148 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in Aflac by 3.8% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,382,000 after acquiring an additional 83,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Aflac by 5.6% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,279,000 after purchasing an additional 117,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $107.31 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $59.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $111.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.35.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its 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 return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 34.94%.

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.