Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Acquired by Lewis Asset Management LLC

Lewis Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Lewis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in Aflac by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in Aflac by 8.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,869,000 after buying an additional 136,238 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac by 0.7% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $177,153,000 after buying an additional 10,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 10.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,529,000 after acquiring an additional 127,911 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’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. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $107.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $105.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.25. The company has a market cap of $59.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50.

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, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS 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 paid a $0.58 dividend. This is a boost 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 2.15%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 34.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AFL. Truist Financial raised their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America increased their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.67.

Aflac Company 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.