Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Raised by Wealthspire Advisors LLC

Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at $47,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 8,861.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,113,000 after purchasing an additional 444,829 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Aflac by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,953,000 after purchasing an additional 368,704 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on AFL shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.31.

Aflac Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE AFL traded up $0.33 on Friday, hitting $85.71. 60,112 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,262,071. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26. The company has a market capitalization of $48.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average of $82.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.