Jacobs & Co. CA Sells 100 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Jacobs & Co. CA decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Aflac were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Aflac by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 6.4% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 281,148 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,437,000 after acquiring an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Aflac by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $254,382,000 after acquiring an additional 83,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,279,000 after acquiring an additional 117,504 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America increased their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler increased 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was 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 owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock traded down $2.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $100.93. The company had a trading volume of 917,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,475,130. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.