Aflac Incorporated $AFL Position Boosted by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 744,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,254 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.14% of Aflac worth $78,466,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $140,746,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth $60,954,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 146.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 772,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,422,000 after purchasing an additional 458,551 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 133.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,329,000 after acquiring an additional 433,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Aflac by 19.4% during the second quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,372,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $250,187,000 after buying an additional 385,546 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.50.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $114.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $61.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.86, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50 day moving average of $108.98 and a 200-day moving average of $105.75. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.43.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 30.29%.

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.