Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,179,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 56,286 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $355,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 79.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,058,000 after buying an additional 12,131 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Aflac by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,800,000 after buying an additional 5,912 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 576.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 8,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 6,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 191,975 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AFL. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $112.39 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $110.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.44. 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 cap of $62.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 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 issued 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 1.78%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

About Aflac

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.