Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Position Raised by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Aflac were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spinnaker Trust boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.7% during the third quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 2.5% during the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays increased their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $103.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $57.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.94%.

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.