Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 248 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Bank of America raised their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $104.52 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $110.14 and a 200 day moving average of $102.84. The stock has a market cap of $58.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

Aflac 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.