RFG Advisory LLC Boosts Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

RFG Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,394 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,597,000 after acquiring an additional 554,803 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in Aflac by 471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,080,000 after purchasing an additional 495,000 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Aflac by 670.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 556,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,572,000 after purchasing an additional 484,378 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Aflac by 26.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,290,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $104.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $58.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.81. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 34.94%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

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