Phillips Wealth Planners LLC Increases Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $662,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after buying an additional 281,148 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,437,000 after buying an additional 31,752 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in Aflac by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after buying an additional 405,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in Aflac by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,869,000 after buying an additional 136,238 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $104.27 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.72. 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 cap of $57.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company 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.