Uptick Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Uptick Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $984,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position 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 buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 13,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,508,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AFL. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $99.00 price target (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $116.48 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $58.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $104.66 and a 12 month high of $130.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $121.59 and its 200-day moving average is $116.09.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.10, for a total value of $74,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 32,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,059,311. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 13,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.33, for a total transaction of $1,686,487.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,844,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,168,986,237.70. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 507,333 shares of company stock valued at $59,450,256. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Company 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.