City Holding Co. Acquires 715 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

City Holding Co. boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 53,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $106.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.