Versant Capital Management Inc Purchases 735 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 825.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $85,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Spinnaker Trust raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.7% in the third 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 raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the 2nd 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 boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $103.16 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.27.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS 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 business 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 business posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

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.