Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC Sells 8,757 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 70.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,757 shares during the quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,558,000. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in Aflac by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,604,000 after buying an additional 100,937 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 353.3% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 11,499 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Aflac by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after acquiring an additional 348,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, G&S Capital LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,626,000 after acquiring an additional 12,551 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on AFL. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 1.1 %

AFL opened at $84.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $86.26. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.00 and its 200 day moving average is $81.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

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.