Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Position Boosted by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 20.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 770,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 128,461 shares during the period. Aflac comprises approximately 1.7% of Vest Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $68,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 3.6% during the second quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 2.0% in the second quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 1.7% in the first quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 4.1% in the second quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC now owns 3,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AFL. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.50.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $107.32 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $100.28 and its 200 day moving average is $90.57. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $74.89 and a fifty-two week high of $111.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $60.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.