Park National Corp OH Raises Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Park National Corp OH lifted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Aflac were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spinnaker Trust boosted its position in Aflac by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $103.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $57.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.65. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 34.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.13.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.