Palisade Asset Management LLC Has $6.52 Million Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Palisade Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.31.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $84.83. 1,690,049 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,290,899. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $64.10 and a twelve month high of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $48.20 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.99.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.