Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Mizuho Markets Americas LLC

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 80.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,429 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Aflac by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC grew its position in Aflac by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 2,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its position in Aflac by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 3,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apexium Financial LP grew its position in Aflac by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $106.70 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.43. The company has a market cap of $57.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.62.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.