Joule Financial LLC Acquires 274 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Joule Financial LLC lifted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Joule Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 65,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,797,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Gill Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Gill Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 5,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 4,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 1,652 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac 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 transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $106.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.