Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP trimmed its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 92,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 68,599 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Aflac were worth $10,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% in the second 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,597,000 after acquiring an additional 554,803 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in 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 valued at $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen started 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $114.10 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $111.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.23. The firm has a market cap of $63.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share 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 firm’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued 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 is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.