State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $22.42 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 200,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Aflac were worth $22,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $108.27. 1,727,329 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,111,763. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $60.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $110.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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, UBS Group upped their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

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.