Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Lifted by Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 15,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 79.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter valued at $979,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $948,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after purchasing an additional 45,745 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 2.1 %

Aflac stock opened at $102.04 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $78.62 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.63, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 24.17%.

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.