Kentucky Trust Co Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its holdings in Aflac by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Aflac by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,869,000 after buying an additional 136,238 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $177,153,000 after buying an additional 10,487 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 10.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,529,000 after acquiring an additional 127,911 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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 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 owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AFL. StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Truist Financial upped 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.21.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5 %

AFL stock opened at $103.09 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $104.49 and a 200 day moving average of $107.02. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $77.01 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $57.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.99.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.95 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.83%.

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.