Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $104.52 on Friday. The firm has a fifty 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly 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 firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.73.

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.