Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 474 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 474 shares during the quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. City Holding Co. raised its holdings in Aflac by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 52,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,886,000 after buying an additional 1,987 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 8.5% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.7% during the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.6% during the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 27,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,062,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 4.9% during the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $112.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $106.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.19. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Aflac Company 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.