Pineridge Advisors LLC Invests $101,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $101,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of 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 acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,978 shares of company stock valued at $2,431,408 over the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $87.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,330,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,929,029. The stock has a market cap of $49.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.61, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.35. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $66.58 and a 1 year high of $89.91.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 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.