B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management Acquires New Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,399 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,283,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 48,942 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,063,000 after acquiring an additional 9,420 shares during the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,223,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,000. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 102,723 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $102.07.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AFL traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $106.43. 2,080,419 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,698,974. The firm has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.36. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac's revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

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.