Rossby Financial LCC Acquires 271 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Rossby Financial LCC raised its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 15.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $140,746,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,954,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 133.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,329,000 after purchasing an additional 433,134 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Aflac by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,372,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,187,000 after buying an additional 385,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,510,000 after buying an additional 349,787 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $106.70 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $108.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.62. The stock has a market cap of $57.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.86. 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 fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.43.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are 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.