468 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Purchased by DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc.

DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $1,558,000. abrdn plc lifted its stake in Aflac by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,604,000 after purchasing an additional 100,937 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 353.3% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 11,499 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Aflac by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after buying an additional 348,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, G&S Capital LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after buying an additional 12,551 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI cut Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $84.54 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.86. The company has a market capitalization of $48.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 25.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% 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.