Central Pacific Bank Trust Division Increases Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Aflac were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after purchasing an additional 333,083 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 79.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 12,131 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter worth about $979,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after buying an additional 45,745 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $103.16 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $57.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.27.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 34.94%.

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.