abrdn plc Sells 17,687 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

abrdn plc trimmed its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 251,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,687 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $28,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 178.6% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $66,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $110.09 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $110.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.46. The stock has a market cap of $62.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

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.