Bank of New Hampshire Sells 1,415 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Bank of New Hampshire cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,176,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the third quarter valued at about $45,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. 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. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac to $107.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $102.39. The company had a trading volume of 66,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,256,654. The company has a 50 day moving average of $107.01 and a 200 day moving average of $104.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $56.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 34.94%.

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.