SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Stake in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 163.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 395,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 245,429 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $43,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Aflac by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 21,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $902,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total transaction of $3,249,789.95. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 50,898,490 shares in the company, valued at $5,940,362,767.90. This represents a 0.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,070,101 shares of company stock worth $123,501,584. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $118.90 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.27.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.