AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 70.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,860 shares during the quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AFL. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $107.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board 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.