Natixis Advisors L.P. Has $20.94 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Natixis Advisors L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 253,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,290 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $20,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,558,000. abrdn plc grew its position in Aflac by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,604,000 after acquiring an additional 100,937 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 353.3% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 11,499 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Aflac by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,676,000 after acquiring an additional 348,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, G&S Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after acquiring an additional 12,551 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $83.21 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction 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 $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last quarter. Company 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.