HB Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gill Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the last quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 5,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $601,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 57.2% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 4,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,652 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in Aflac by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 41,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,310,000 after purchasing an additional 17,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,283,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5 %

AFL 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $106.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

Aflac Company Profile

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.