Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,330 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Everence Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,330 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 825.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 643,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,964,000 after buying an additional 3,244 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $103.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.16. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

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.