Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Decreased by Burney Co.

Burney Co. reduced its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 55,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 338 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.8% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 27.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,243,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,029,000 after acquiring an additional 268,694 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Aflac by 9.4% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Aflac by 2.5% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $104.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.12.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, 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 this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.