Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Strategic Investment Advisors MI

Strategic Investment Advisors MI trimmed its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 18,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 4,186 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 3,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 221,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,796,000 after acquiring an additional 14,268 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.67.

Aflac Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $104.82 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $105.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $58.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.