Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Stolper Co

Stolper Co decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,478 shares during the quarter. Aflac makes up approximately 2.7% of Stolper Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Stolper Co’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 55.8% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $10,878,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,724,000. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 23.5% in the second quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 53,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,766,000 after acquiring an additional 10,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $104.80 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.12. 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 stock has a market cap of $58.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm 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 company’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is a boost 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 is presently 34.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.07.

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.