Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Purchases New Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 4,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Navalign LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth $33,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in Aflac by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its position in Aflac by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Evercore raised Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Aflac from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Aflac from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on Aflac in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.82.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 814,028 shares of company stock valued at $91,815,931 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $117.78 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $119.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $112.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.62.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.70%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.