Powers Advisory Group LLC Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Powers Advisory Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 107 shares during the period. Powers Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 6.4% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in shares of Aflac by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 136,238 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $177,153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 10.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,529,000 after purchasing an additional 127,911 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6 %

AFL opened at $108.25 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $60.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results 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. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value 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 approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.