Sentry Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 482 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $197,820,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,000 after acquiring an additional 658,303 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,588,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 196.5% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 484,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,945,000 after acquiring an additional 320,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 161.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,723,000 after purchasing an additional 191,975 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $107.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $74.89 and a 1 year high of $111.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.57. The firm has a market cap of $60.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.