Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC Increases Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $237,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $103.08 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.74. The company has a market cap of $57.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $77.01 and a 1 year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly 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 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.