Private Trust Co. NA Has $791,000 Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Aflac were worth $791,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Aflac by 420.5% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 7,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 5,870 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK bought a new position in Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $738,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 60.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 5,170 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $109.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $78.62 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $60.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $104.56 and its 200 day moving average is $107.56.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.58 dividend. This is a boost 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 2.12%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 24.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.