Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Bought by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,226 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.68. 2,252,973 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,304,435. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $48.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.99. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AFL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.31.

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.