Old North State Trust LLC Grows Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Old North State Trust LLC lifted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the quarter. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Spinnaker Trust grew its position in Aflac by 2.7% during the third quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its position in Aflac by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.5% in the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.73.

Aflac Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $104.41 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $58.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.97. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $110.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.62.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.