Northern Trust Corp Has $754.70 Million Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.31% of Aflac worth $754,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AFL. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a "market perform" rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.00.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL traded up $1.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $105.51. The stock had a trading volume of 1,886,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,109,304. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $81.96 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $107.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.99. 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 (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Aflac's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.17%.

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.