New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 209 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 209 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 7,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 149.3% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 9,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 5,407 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 156.2% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 28,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 17,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Aflac by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 177,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,317,000 after purchasing an additional 5,242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price 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. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $109.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $78.62 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $104.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.52. The stock has a market cap of $60.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.40, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. 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 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.17%.

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.