Principal Securities Inc. Has $1.50 Million Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Aflac by 13.3% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 252,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,206,000 after purchasing an additional 29,602 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 306,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,225,000 after buying an additional 3,845 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 70.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 46,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,146,000 after buying an additional 19,037 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 3.0% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.00.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $104.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.26. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $78.38 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.95 EPS 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 paid a $0.58 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.83%.

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.