Brophy Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Brophy Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $590,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 658,303 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $62,597,000 after buying an additional 554,803 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in Aflac by 471.4% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,080,000 after acquiring an additional 495,000 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Aflac by 26.6% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $42,290,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $105.00 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $58.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $110.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.47.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. 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 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.73.

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.