Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $318.59 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,564,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,762 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.77% of Aflac worth $318,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Aflac by 99,608.4% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,691,395,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,059,415,000 after buying an additional 1,689,699,293 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 42,505,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,742,462,000 after buying an additional 291,800 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.9% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,888,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $765,297,000 after buying an additional 105,298 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,812,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $634,004,000 after buying an additional 1,640,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Aflac by 71.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,512,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $420,160,000 after buying an additional 2,707,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AFL. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $79.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Aflac from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.47, for a total transaction of $38,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,949.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.47, for a total transaction of $38,235.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,949.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO James Todd Daniels sold 3,355 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.51, for a total value of $249,981.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,491,015.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 165,556 shares of company stock valued at $13,413,385. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $80.42 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $60.20 and a 1 year high of $82.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $78.27 and its 200-day moving average is $73.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.17% and a return on equity of 17.86%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.13%.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates in two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. 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.