Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Has $457,000 Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC decreased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership acquired a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Aflac by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.67.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $107.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $105.61 and its 200-day moving average is $106.28. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.00.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

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.