Stolper Co Sells 1,478 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Stolper Co decreased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,478 shares during the quarter. Aflac accounts for approximately 2.7% of Stolper Co’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Stolper Co’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Aflac by 55.8% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 1,974 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth $10,878,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth about $1,724,000. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 53,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,766,000 after acquiring an additional 10,156 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $104.80 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $106.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $58.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.