Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Lowered by Court Place Advisors LLC

Court Place Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 504 shares during the period. Aflac accounts for approximately 1.2% of Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nilsine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 9,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. West Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $220,000. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Apexium Financial LP raised its position in Aflac by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $108.14 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.08 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.04.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 30.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

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.