Advisors Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 89,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $9,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Spinnaker Trust raised its holdings in Aflac by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.6% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.5% during the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $110.24 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $110.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.16. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.