Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Element Wealth LLC

Element Wealth LLC reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 188 shares during the period. Element Wealth LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in Aflac by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. Dividend Assets Capital LLC grew its position in Aflac by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC now owns 7,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $819,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 58,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Aflac by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its position in Aflac by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 15,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,573,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.86.

Aflac Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $102.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $78.62 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.17%.

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.