Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB trimmed its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,711,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,662 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned approximately 0.31% of Aflac worth $177,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after acquiring an additional 285,576 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $524,846,000 after purchasing an additional 281,148 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,429,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,437,000 after purchasing an additional 31,752 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,276,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,382,000 after buying an additional 83,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,220,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,279,000 after buying an additional 117,504 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 1.6 %

AFL stock opened at $101.56 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $107.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $56.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.87.

Aflac Company 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.