Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 195,331 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,355,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 195,331 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Aflac were worth $140,185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AFL. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Aflac by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,802 shares of company stock worth $3,411,877 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.21.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $106.96 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.47. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $86.46 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $57.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 36.25%.

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.