Capital Investment Counsel LLC Sells 741 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC lowered its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 741 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 79.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $979,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after acquiring an additional 45,745 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $250,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.67.

Aflac Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $107.39 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.15.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

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.