Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $391,000 Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI decreased 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. Barclays decreased their target price on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.86.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE AFL opened at $104.53 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $104.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.83%.

About Aflac

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.