Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Decreases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,800 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted 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 valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 658,303 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 554,803 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Aflac by 6.3% in 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 in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $111.32 on Friday. 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 Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $110.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.48. The company has a market capitalization of $61.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Company 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.