Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases Shares of 400 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eudaimonia Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 234.6% during the 4th quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC now owns 10,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 7,325 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $1,558,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 86,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,096,000 after purchasing an additional 15,855 shares in the last quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 139,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,481,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $12,546,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.69.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $89.41 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $69.00 and a 52 week high of $91.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.87. The firm has a market cap of $50.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during 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 revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.