Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,650 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 75.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 269,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,138,000 after buying an additional 116,341 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 0.3% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 62,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,035,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the third quarter worth approximately $590,000. Executive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $394,000. Finally, Raelipskie Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac to $107.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays started coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1 %

AFL stock opened at $104.52 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.14 and a 200-day moving average of $102.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 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.