Assetmark Inc. Acquires 10,487 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,487 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $177,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Aflac by 6.4% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,912 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Aflac by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 718,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,653,000 after buying an additional 22,637 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 13.9% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 708,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,810,000 after acquiring an additional 86,578 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $2,535,000. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth about $832,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays assumed 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. Piper Sandler upped 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. 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. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $108.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.16 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $110.33 and its 200-day moving average is $98.56. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 30.12%.

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.