Physicians Financial Services Inc. Sells 200 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Physicians Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Physicians Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $720,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in 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 valued at $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $254,382,000 after purchasing an additional 83,289 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.12. 74,731 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,230,931. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $110.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.32. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.08.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 lifted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Bank of America raised their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Three research 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

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.