Avanza Fonder AB Purchases New Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 40,830 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,223,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 boosted its holdings in Aflac by 79.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,058,000 after buying an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter worth approximately $979,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 45,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the third quarter worth approximately $250,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI cut 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. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $102.07.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $106.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,080,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,698,974. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.25. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac's payout ratio is 30.12%.

Aflac 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.