Buffington Mohr McNeal Increases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Buffington Mohr McNeal raised its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Aflac were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,846,000 after buying an additional 281,148 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in Aflac by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,682,000 after acquiring an additional 118,720 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,869,000 after purchasing an additional 136,238 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $177,153,000 after purchasing an additional 10,487 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $108.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $105.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.04. 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 quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $60.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

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.