10,600 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Purchased by Petix & Botte Co

Petix & Botte Co acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $874,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Aflac by 9.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Aflac by 5.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,953,000 after purchasing an additional 368,704 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Aflac by 5.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,808,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $369,036,000 after purchasing an additional 227,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,236,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $171,659,000 after purchasing an additional 49,479 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL traded up $1.52 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $84.73. 1,952,154 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,304,566. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.24 and a 200 day moving average of $81.94. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $48.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AFL. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.31.

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.