NBT Bank N.A. Makes New $2.54 Million Investment in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

NBT Bank N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 22,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,542,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.20.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $123.19 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $105.43 and a twelve month high of $130.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.56. The company has a market capitalization of $61.76 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.