Legal & General Group Plc Sells 392,385 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,913,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 392,385 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.73% of Aflac worth $412,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter worth $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac by 1,526.7% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.00.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AFL opened at $110.97 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.83. The stock has a market cap of $58.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83.

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. 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 31.85%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 786 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.75, for a total transaction of $89,407.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 24,829 shares in the company, valued at $2,824,298.75. This trade represents a 3.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 15,862 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $1,776,544.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 230,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,837,056. The trade was a 6.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,822 shares of company stock valued at $2,571,002. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.