State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 363 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Aflac were worth $22,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Spinnaker Trust grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.7% during the third quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% in the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $108.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,727,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,111,763. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 2.11 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.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

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.