Copperwynd Financial LLC Raises Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 24.4% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 2,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Optas LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $102.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $111.87 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.50. The stock has a market cap of $59.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.44.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.