Bar Harbor Wealth Management Trims Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,597,000 after purchasing an additional 554,803 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Aflac by 471.4% during the third 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 buying an additional 495,000 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Aflac by 26.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $42,290,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,533,000 after acquiring an additional 333,083 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Bank of America increased their price objective 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. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.29.

Insider Activity at Aflac

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 value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $102.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $106.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.02. The stock has a market cap of $56.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS 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 issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. 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 payout ratio is presently 34.94%.

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.