1,600 Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL Acquired by Ransom Advisory Ltd

Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $178,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SCS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $640,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 1.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,161,000 after purchasing an additional 56,776 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 7.3% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 15,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $324,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 17.1% during the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 19,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $107.16 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $103.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AFL. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $106.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.15.

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.