Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Bought by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Bank of America raised their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $114.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $110.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.05. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $63.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

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.