10,184 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Purchased by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $837,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Sachetta LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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, Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.38.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,978 shares of company stock valued at $3,098,128 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.91 on Friday, reaching $87.69. 1,311,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,043,957. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $88.59. The company has a market cap of $49.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

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.