MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 6,901 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,901 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $14,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1 %

AFL stock opened at $114.10 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $63.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $110.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.14. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly 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 company 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 revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Aflac’s payout ratio 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.