Carson Advisory Inc. Has $1.19 Million Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Carson Advisory Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,733 shares during the quarter. Aflac makes up about 0.9% of Carson Advisory Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Carson Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 77,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 353,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,176,000 after acquiring an additional 3,663 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 19,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Down 0.6 %

AFL traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $84.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,761,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,301,187. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $48.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.