Aprio Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 24.4% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.5% in the first quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apexium Financial LP boosted its holdings in Aflac by 3.4% in the first quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI restated an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $106.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.05 billion, a PE ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $103.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.