Liberty One Investment Management LLC Buys 1,946 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 48,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,946 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial upped 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, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $106.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 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 company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.