Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Has $421,000 Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,762 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 209 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at $51,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Up 0.7 %

Aflac stock opened at $114.01 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average is $110.88 and its 200-day moving average is $101.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

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.