Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Reduces Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC trimmed its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 274,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,506 shares during the quarter. Aflac comprises approximately 1.5% of Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $28,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after acquiring an additional 653,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after purchasing an additional 288,482 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $349,699,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,768,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.21.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,802 shares of company stock valued at $3,411,877. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $106.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $107.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $86.46 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

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.