McIlrath & Eck LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,490 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 564 shares during the quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 4.1% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth $2,535,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 5.3% in the second quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Aflac by 1,273.4% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 10,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $942,000 after acquiring an additional 9,805 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 4.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 27,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $104.23 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $57.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $110.91 and a 200-day moving average of $102.47.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted 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 firm 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 firm’s 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, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 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.