Welch & Forbes LLC Has $36.10 Million Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 437,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,564 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC owned about 0.07% of Aflac worth $36,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Aflac by 724.8% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 7,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 6,509 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Chatham Capital Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at $212,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in Aflac by 2.4% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 133,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,242,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.31.

Aflac Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE AFL traded up $1.52 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $84.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,952,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,304,566. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.24 and a 200 day moving average of $81.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. 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 2.36%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.