GAM Holding AG Has $4.94 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

GAM Holding AG lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 54.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 52,868 shares during the quarter. GAM Holding AG’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position 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 in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position 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 in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 5.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of AFL opened at $112.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $109.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.37. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current 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 $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.53.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.