Gill Capital Partners LLC Buys 644 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Gill Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the period. Gill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth $10,878,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth $211,000. Beck Bode LLC increased its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 143,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $904,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Aflac in the second quarter worth approximately $1,686,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $106.43 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $106.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.07.

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.