Team Hewins LLC Invests $565,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Team Hewins LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $197,820,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after acquiring an additional 605,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 8,861.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,113,000 after acquiring an additional 444,829 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.38.

Aflac Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AFL traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $87.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 842,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,216,512. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $88.59. The stock has a market cap of $49.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company’s 50 day moving average is $84.51 and its 200 day moving average is $82.62.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,978 shares of company stock valued at $3,098,128 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.