DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc Has $1.24 Million Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc cut its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,004 shares during the period. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Spinnaker Trust grew its holdings in Aflac by 2.7% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 2.5% during the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $106.43 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.13.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.80% 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.