Insider Selling: Aflac (NYSE:AFL) EVP Sells $1,776,544.00 in Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) EVP Audrey Tillman sold 15,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $1,776,544.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 230,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,837,056. This represents a 6.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $110.97 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $110.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $58.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $2,070,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter worth $551,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in shares of Aflac by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 140,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,857,000 after buying an additional 6,400 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 8.2% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,652,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,273,000 after acquiring an additional 124,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S&CO Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the second quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 84,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,887,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.00.

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.