Dean Investment Associates LLC Cuts Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Dean Investment Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,138 shares during the period. Dean Investment Associates LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $107.31 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $111.05 and a 200 day moving average of $102.35. 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 stock has a market cap of $59.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.97. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during 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%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

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.