Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 243,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,527 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $25,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Aflac by 6.4% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,437,000 after purchasing an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its position in Aflac by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after purchasing an additional 118,720 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in Aflac by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after purchasing an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in Aflac by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,869,000 after purchasing an additional 136,238 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $104.27 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $106.24 and a 200-day moving average of $105.72. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $57.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm 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 posted $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America upped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

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.