585 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Purchased by Altshuler Shaham Ltd

Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.4% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 133,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 17.3% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,098,000 after purchasing an additional 4,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to 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 issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.31.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL stock traded up $0.55 on Thursday, reaching $85.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,279,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,286,704. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.41 and its 200 day moving average is $82.01. The company has a market cap of $48.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. Insiders own 0.90% 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.