Skopos Labs Inc. Buys New Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Skopos Labs Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $197,820,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Aflac by 9.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $47,492,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 8,861.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,113,000 after purchasing an additional 444,829 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on AFL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,978 shares of company stock valued at $3,098,128. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,311,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,043,957. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $49.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.67. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $88.59.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

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.