Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by FourThought Financial Partners LLC

FourThought Financial Partners LLC reduced its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 637 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Aflac by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth about $47,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after buying an additional 605,210 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 8,861.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,113,000 after buying an additional 444,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Aflac by 5.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,953,000 after acquiring an additional 368,704 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0 %

AFL traded down $0.83 on Friday, reaching $83.21. 2,938,536 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,533,085. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $47.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.90.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. 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 net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.31.

Aflac 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.