Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Bought by Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,341 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Spinnaker Trust boosted its stake in Aflac by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’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 completion of 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 represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.21.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $103.62 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $104.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $77.01 and a 52 week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 20.83%.

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.