Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,486 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Aflac Trading Up 1.1 %

Aflac stock opened at $104.80 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $58.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of 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 note on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.