Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Reduces Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 244 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 658,303 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10,878.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,597,000 after purchasing an additional 554,803 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Aflac by 471.4% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 600,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $67,080,000 after buying an additional 495,000 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after buying an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,290,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded down $1.60 on Monday, hitting $101.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,864,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,395,192. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week 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 company has a market cap of $56.42 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.48.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 34.94%.

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.