Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 3,368 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,846,000 after buying an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,437,000 after buying an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.8% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,382,000 after buying an additional 83,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 5.6% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,279,000 after buying an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $103.52 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.94%.

Aflac Company 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.