Exeter Financial LLC Cuts Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Exeter Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 649 shares during the quarter. Aflac comprises 2.7% of Exeter Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 79.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 12,131 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth $979,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after acquiring an additional 45,745 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 1.5 %

AFL opened at $102.52 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $56.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.94%.

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.