Hyman Charles D Grows Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Hyman Charles D lifted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 247,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the period. Aflac comprises about 1.2% of Hyman Charles D’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Hyman Charles D’s holdings in Aflac were worth $20,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.31.

Aflac Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $84.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,693,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,297,630. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $86.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.99.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. Aflac’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.