North Star Asset Management Inc. Has $3.82 Million Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,265 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $197,820,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Aflac by 6.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,806,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,140,000 after buying an additional 113,226 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,577,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,129,000 after buying an additional 64,202 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 980,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,163,000 after acquiring an additional 7,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 882,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,808,000 after acquiring an additional 12,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.50.

Aflac Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $108.86 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $99.12 and a 200-day moving average of $89.89. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $73.79 and a one year high of $111.14. The stock has a market cap of $61.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.