Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 90,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,626 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $10,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $114.00 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $111.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.63. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $63.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

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.