Citigroup Inc. Has $65.01 Million Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Citigroup Inc. cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 581,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,581 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.10% of Aflac worth $65,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $112.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.55. 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 $62.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AFL. Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

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.