Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 353,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.06% of Aflac worth $29,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 1.0 %

Aflac stock opened at $83.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $47.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $64.10 and a 12 month high of $86.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AFL. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James upped their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Two investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.31.

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.