Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Has $11.03 Million Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. cut its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,254 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $11,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Aflac by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 31,752 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Aflac by 3.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 83,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $198,279,000 after purchasing an additional 117,504 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $114.10 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $63.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day moving average of $111.11 and a 200-day moving average of $101.23. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.