Dakota Wealth Management Grows Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Dakota Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the quarter. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 2.0 %

AFL stock opened at $104.27 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $106.24 and its 200 day moving average is $105.72. The firm has a market cap of $57.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 2.23%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

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.