Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stake Boosted by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 30.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,105 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Navalign LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Aflac by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their target price on Aflac from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $7,441,560.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 744,916 shares of company stock worth $87,118,632. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $121.88 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $116.79 and a 200-day moving average of $113.21. 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 firm has a market cap of $62.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $122.80.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.70%.

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.