M&G Plc Cuts Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

M&G Plc reduced its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 21.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,013 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Aflac by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $108.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $110.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.56. The company has a market capitalization of $60.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. 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.