Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 722,614 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 41,831 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. owned about 0.13% of Aflac worth $62,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,974 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James raised their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $82.15.

Aflac Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AFL traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $84.54. 2,334,325 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,271,883. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $64.10 and a 12-month high of $86.26. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $48.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.81%.

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.

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