Westover Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $197,820,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 7,001.0% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 658,303 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $27,588,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Aflac by 196.5% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 484,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,945,000 after purchasing an additional 320,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 161.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,723,000 after purchasing an additional 191,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays started coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Aflac Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $108.59 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $101.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.96. 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 cap of $60.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued 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 1.84%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Aflac Profile

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.