Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Buys 1,528 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 157,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,528 shares during the period. Aflac comprises approximately 1.9% of Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $17,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,800,000 after buying an additional 5,912 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 79.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 576.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Aflac by 161.0% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $111.32 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $110.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.70. The stock has a market cap of $61.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.