Royal Bank of Canada Grows Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,355,239 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 195,331 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.24% of Aflac worth $140,185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Aflac by 10.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $155,529,000 after purchasing an additional 127,911 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of Aflac by 121.3% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 6,702 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 3,673 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,835 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 48,942 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,063,000 after acquiring an additional 9,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Aflac by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 65,712 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,797,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 71,552 shares of company stock valued at $7,609,382 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a "market perform" rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.57.

Aflac Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $102.76. The stock had a trading volume of 802,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,110,206. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $106.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.44. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $86.46 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $55.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. Aflac's revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. 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.