Benjamin Edwards Inc. Takes Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 82,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,235,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $111.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $111.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.63. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $61.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.