Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Foster & Motley Inc.

Foster & Motley Inc. trimmed its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 100,121 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 4,824 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $10,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spinnaker Trust lifted its stake in Aflac by 2.7% in the third quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.0% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $102.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business'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 directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $108.88. The stock had a trading volume of 409,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,577,805. The firm's 50 day moving average is $105.68 and its 200 day moving average is $106.26. 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 market capitalization of $60.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

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.