FourThought Financial Partners LLC Buys Shares of 5,391 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Aflac by 169.8% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,577,000. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 10,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.86.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $106.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $59.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $78.62 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $104.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.47.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 24.17%.

Aflac Profile

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.