Sawyer & Company Inc Has $2.06 Million Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sawyer & Company Inc lowered its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 438 shares during the period. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL traded up $1.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $113.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,478,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,249,163. The firm has a market cap of $64.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $107.90 and a 200 day moving average of $94.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AFL. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.