Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Purchases 495,000 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 471.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 495,000 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Aflac were worth $67,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 19.4% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 882,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,808,000 after buying an additional 12,357 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12.8% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after buying an additional 5,317 shares during the period. Finally, Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.7% in the first quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley increased 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, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $114.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $63.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $110.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.05. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.