Avanza Fonder AB Purchases Shares of 40,830 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 40,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,223,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,878,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth $211,000. Beck Bode LLC raised its stake in 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 shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $904,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,686,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.07.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $106.43 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $106.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.13. 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 company has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 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.