Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 9,683 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 114,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,683 shares during the quarter. Aflac makes up approximately 5.2% of Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $12,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 168,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,526,000 after purchasing an additional 56,975 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 348.3% in the fourth quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 55,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,145,000 after buying an additional 43,293 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $3,743,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Aflac by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,866,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,712,000 after buying an additional 97,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $20,865,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AFL. Mizuho set a $112.00 price objective on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.50.

Aflac Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $124.79 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $125.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $63.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $117.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.71.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $7,441,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 744,916 shares of company stock valued at $87,118,632. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.