Wealthspire Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 166 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $1,558,000. abrdn plc increased its stake in Aflac by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,604,000 after purchasing an additional 100,937 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 353.3% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,217,000 after buying an additional 11,499 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,676,000 after buying an additional 348,400 shares during the period. Finally, G&S Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after buying an additional 12,551 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.31.

Aflac Stock Up 0.4 %

AFL traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $85.71. 60,112 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,262,071. The firm has a market cap of $48.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average of $82.01.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

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.