Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV Sells 780 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 780 shares during the quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in Aflac by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. 1858 Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $240,000. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Echo Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $781,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 70.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 46,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,146,000 after buying an additional 19,037 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $112.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $64.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $109.63 and its 200 day moving average is $96.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.53.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.