Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Short Interest Down 9.3% in November

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,260,000 shares, a decline of 9.3% from the October 31st total of 9,110,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Institutional Trading of Aflac

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Aflac by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL traded down $4.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $106.76. The company had a trading volume of 3,045,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,213,832. Aflac has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.97.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

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.