Calton & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Aflac by 29.3% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 18,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after purchasing an additional 4,186 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 32.4% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth about $3,099,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Aflac by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 105,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,378,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 19,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.67.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $107.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $105.61 and a 200 day moving average of $106.28. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 2.16%. This is a boost 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 presently 30.12%.

About Aflac

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.