Versant Capital Management Inc Buys 735 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 825.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $85,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 643,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,964,000 after acquiring an additional 3,244 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter valued at $576,000. Old North State Trust LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 64,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,219,000 after buying an additional 7,918 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.73.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $103.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $57.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $107.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.27. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s payout ratio is 34.94%.

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.