B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 35,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,437,000 after purchasing an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in Aflac by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,382,000 after purchasing an additional 83,289 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 5.6% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,279,000 after buying an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after buying an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $110.24 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $110.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. 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 $61.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.