Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Sells 367 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 367 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,597,000 after purchasing an additional 554,803 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Aflac by 471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,080,000 after acquiring an additional 495,000 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Aflac by 670.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 556,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,572,000 after acquiring an additional 484,378 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,290,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 75.2% during 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. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AFL opened at $103.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $78.38 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.17. The firm has a market cap of $57.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change 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%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.00.

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.