USA Financial Formulas Reduces Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

USA Financial Formulas lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the quarter. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Aflac were worth $331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in Aflac during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 80.0% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.53.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5 %

AFL opened at $111.62 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.42 and a 200 day moving average of $94.51. The firm has a market cap of $63.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.