Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Bar Harbor Wealth Management

Bar Harbor Wealth Management lessened its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $263,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,202,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 6.8% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC raised its position in Aflac by 100.3% in the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 7,996 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,003 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 27.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,243,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $111,029,000 after acquiring an additional 268,694 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 15,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’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 value of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $102.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $56.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.02. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.94%.

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.