Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Trims Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Aflac were worth $703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 728,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,377,000 after acquiring an additional 58,828 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Trust Co boosted its holdings in Aflac by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Trust Co now owns 18,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,356,000 after acquiring an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Aflac by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 10,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 113,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,197,000 after acquiring an additional 11,398 shares in the last quarter. 66.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Aflac from $77.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Finally, VNET Group reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.22.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $64.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $39.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $65.74 and its 200 day moving average is $68.59. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $52.07 and a 12-month high of $74.01.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.90% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 17th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 16th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 13,471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.27, for a total transaction of $906,194.17. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,633.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 13,471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.27, for a total transaction of $906,194.17. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,633.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Frederick John Crawford sold 59,053 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.43, for a total transaction of $4,040,996.79. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 321,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,991,143.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 112,582 shares of company stock worth $7,647,192. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Aflac, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial protection services. It operates through the following segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. The Aflac Japan segment offers life insurance, death benefits, and cash surrender values. The Aflac U.S. segment sells voluntary supplemental insurance products for people who already have major medical or primary insurance coverage.