Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Position Trimmed by Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.

Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. decreased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 753 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,878,000. Beck Bode LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 143,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter valued at $904,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 5.1% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Aflac by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.07.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $106.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.25. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

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.