Shilanski & Associates Inc. Lowers Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Shilanski & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 696 shares during the period. Shilanski & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,922,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1 %

Aflac stock opened at $104.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.71. The company has a market capitalization of $58.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

Aflac 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.