Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Decreases Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 128,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 54,739 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $14,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 658,303 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 10,878.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 554,803 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 valued at $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $110.63. 54,981 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,223,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $61.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.14. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors 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 yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial increased 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. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.