Annex Advisory Services LLC Raises Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 263.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,097 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AFL. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 48,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,041,000 after buying an additional 1,946 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $517,000. Joule Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 2,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $106.43 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.47. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% 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.