Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Increases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 109 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth $25,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Aflac by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 116.7% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $109.69 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.22. The firm has a market cap of $60.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during 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%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 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.