Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Acquired by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 79.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Aflac by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,912 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in Aflac by 576.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 8,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Aflac by 161.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,723,000 after purchasing an additional 191,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Bank of America raised their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $114.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $63.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $110.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.05. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted 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. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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