Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Acquired by Brighton Jones LLC

Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 64.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Beck Bode LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 143,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Aflac by 7.7% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 29.3% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 18,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 4,186 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 12.0% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 157,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,106,000 after acquiring an additional 16,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth about $3,418,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3 %

Aflac stock opened at $104.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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 revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 30.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.