Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stake Lessened by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,473,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 111,328 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $359,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in Aflac by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Aflac by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,869,000 after acquiring an additional 136,238 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $177,153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,529,000 after acquiring an additional 127,911 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.86.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $105.73 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $78.62 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $58.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

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 value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.