Moran Wealth Management LLC Sells 3,721 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Moran Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 248,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,721 shares during the quarter. Aflac comprises about 0.9% of Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $27,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $254,382,000 after buying an additional 83,289 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 5.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $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.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $110.65. 111,702 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,215,728. The firm has a market cap of $61.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

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.