Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 315,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,556 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $35,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,800,000 after buying an additional 5,912 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 79.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 12,131 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 576.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 8,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 161.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,723,000 after purchasing an additional 191,975 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AFL shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research 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 research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $111.32 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.48. The company has a market cap of $61.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96. 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 quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

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.