Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Trims Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,800 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $596,000 after buying an additional 658,303 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 26.6% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $111.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $61.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.48.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac 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.