HMS Capital Management LLC Acquires 137 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

HMS Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. HMS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Aflac by 6.4% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,912 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its stake in Aflac by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 718,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,653,000 after buying an additional 22,637 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Aflac by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 708,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,810,000 after buying an additional 86,578 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth about $2,535,000. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $832,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $105.52 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $110.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.25. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $59.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.96. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 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.