AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Grows Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 222,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $24,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 116.7% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $108.29 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $60.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $110.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 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 analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 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.