Truist Financial Corp Sells 323,505 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 49.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 323,505 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.06% of Aflac worth $34,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction 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 approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $104.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. This is a boost 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 is presently 20.83%.

About Aflac

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.