Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 32.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,733 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Eudaimonia Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 234.6% in the fourth quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC now owns 10,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 7,325 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,558,000. abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,604,000 after purchasing an additional 100,937 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 353.3% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 11,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, G&S Capital LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after buying an additional 12,551 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James upped their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.38.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $87.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $49.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.56. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $88.59.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,379,914 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.