Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 233 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was 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 $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $104.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $106.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.70. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

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.