Drive Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth about $286,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of AFL opened at $108.77 on Tuesday. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $108.45 and a 200 day moving average of $105.41. The company has a market cap of $58.17 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.43.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac 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.