Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Bought by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,652,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 124,706 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc. owned approximately 0.31% of Aflac worth $174,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in 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 valued at $590,161,000 after purchasing an additional 56,776 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 10.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,510,000 after purchasing an additional 349,787 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in shares of Aflac by 19.4% in the second quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,372,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,187,000 after purchasing an additional 385,546 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Aflac by 0.8% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,441,000 after purchasing an additional 13,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Aflac by 4.3% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,703,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,056,000 after purchasing an additional 70,244 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $105.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $56.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.62. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.43.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.