D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 7,095 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,095 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,533,000 after acquiring an additional 333,083 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac by 79.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,058,000 after buying an additional 12,131 shares during the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at about $979,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $948,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,395,000 after purchasing an additional 45,745 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.86.

Aflac Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $104.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $104.16 and a 200 day moving average of $107.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.99. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $78.60 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 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. 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 2.22%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 20.83%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.