Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $263.25 Million Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,190,954 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,892 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.55% of Aflac worth $263,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $740,141,000 after buying an additional 794,784 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Aflac by 5.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $559,953,000 after acquiring an additional 368,704 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Aflac by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,808,289 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $369,036,000 after acquiring an additional 227,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,236,241 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $171,659,000 after purchasing an additional 49,479 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.31.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $85.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,314,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,286,704. The company has a market capitalization of $48.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $83.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.01.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. Aflac's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Aflac's payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Aflac Company 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.