Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Bought by Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 80.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,071 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Eudaimonia Partners LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 234.6% during the 4th quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC now owns 10,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 7,325 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 86,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,096,000 after buying an additional 15,855 shares during the last quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 139,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,481,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Aflac by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,806,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,140,000 after buying an additional 113,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,546,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $0.28 during trading on Monday, reaching $94.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,200,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,183,612. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.23. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $95.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.46.

About Aflac

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.