True North Advisors LLC Has $416,000 Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

True North Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 802 shares during the period. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 79.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $979,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $134,395,000 after purchasing an additional 45,745 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $250,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Aflac Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $104.27 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $57.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.72.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 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 issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company 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.