HB Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 20.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 79,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,621 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $865,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 26,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $103.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.18. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $94.03 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

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.