Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Lowers Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 243,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,747 shares during the period. Aflac makes up 2.2% of Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Aflac were worth $27,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 658,303 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Aflac by 26.6% in 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 buying an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $27,588,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 27.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,243,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $111,029,000 after acquiring an additional 268,694 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac 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 transaction of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AFL opened at $114.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $65.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. Aflac’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

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.