Capital Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after acquiring an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 79.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at $979,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,395,000 after purchasing an additional 45,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.29.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $102.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.02. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $56.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

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.