Essex Financial Services Inc. Cuts Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 514 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $83.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $64.10 and a one year high of $86.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.31.

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.