Verity & Verity LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 57.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,652 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 71.5% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 41,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,310,000 after buying an additional 17,375 shares in the last quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management purchased a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $1,283,000. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 48,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,063,000 after acquiring an additional 9,420 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $4,223,000. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $106.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $106.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.13.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current 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. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.