Commerce Bank Trims Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Commerce Bank lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 657 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,382,000 after acquiring an additional 83,289 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,279,000 after acquiring an additional 117,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $110.24 on Thursday. 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 Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $110.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.16.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Aflac 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.