Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Sells 152 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC reduced its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spinnaker Trust increased its position in shares of Aflac by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.0% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised its position in Aflac by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $107.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $105.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.28. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Aflac’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, 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 at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI cut 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. Barclays increased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.67.

Aflac 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.