Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 882,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,808,000 after buying an additional 12,357 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth $270,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 12.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 5,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $114.01 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. 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 quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.