King Luther Capital Management Corp Buys 886 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,486 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $502,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Covestor Ltd boosted 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 worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. 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, Evercore ISI upped their target price 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. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $112.39 on Friday. 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $110.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

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.