Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 1,871 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,871 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,300,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $901,933,000 after acquiring an additional 89,414 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Aflac by 3.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,755,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $318,476,000 after buying an additional 192,480 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Aflac by 62.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,865,000 after buying an additional 1,897,212 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,286,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,590,000 after buying an additional 72,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Aflac by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,753,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,337,000 after buying an additional 9,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AFL. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aflac from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $66.00 price target on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction of $35,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,421,676.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 500 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction of $35,990.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,421,676.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 4,688 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.60, for a total value of $330,972.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,571.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 57,388 shares of company stock valued at $4,065,339 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $72.44 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $71.20 and a 200 day moving average of $63.76. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $52.07 and a 1 year high of $74.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.92.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.01. Aflac had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 24.16%. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 20.41%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 8th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Profile

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Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates through two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care income support, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.