LPL Financial LLC Grows Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 963,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 60,762 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.17% of Aflac worth $107,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Aflac by 7,001.0% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 658,303 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 10,878.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,597,000 after buying an additional 554,803 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Aflac by 26.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after buying an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $112.39 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.44. The company has a market cap of $62.44 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

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.