National Bank of Canada FI Sells 16,361 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 245,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,361 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Aflac were worth $20,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.3% during the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Chatham Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth $212,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 133,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 17.3% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 27,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,098,000 after buying an additional 4,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $84.73 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $83.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

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.