Ridgewood Investments LLC Has $1.56 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Ridgewood Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 871 shares during the quarter. Aflac comprises about 0.7% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 146,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,363,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH raised its stake in Aflac by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 4,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in Aflac by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 16,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in Aflac by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AFL. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.29.

Aflac Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $3.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $100.55. The stock had a trading volume of 470,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,399,940. The firm has a market cap of $55.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $106.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.64.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently 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.