Spire Wealth Management lowered its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) by 64.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,562 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $49,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 16,300,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $901,933,000 after purchasing an additional 89,414 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,755,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $318,476,000 after purchasing an additional 192,480 shares in the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 5,061,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $325,902,000 after purchasing an additional 715,304 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 62.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,286,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,590,000 after purchasing an additional 72,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.22% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Aflac from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 30th. Evercore ISI set a $66.00 price objective on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Aflac from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.00.
Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac
In other Aflac news, EVP Eric M. Kirsch sold 28,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.90, for a total value of $2,013,560.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,721 shares in the company, valued at $2,532,618.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Toshihiko Fukuzawa sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.64, for a total value of $98,896.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $724,625.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric M. Kirsch sold 28,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.90, for a total value of $2,013,560.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,532,618.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 57,388 shares of company stock worth $4,065,339 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.
Aflac Stock Performance
AFL opened at $69.39 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $52.07 and a 52-week high of $74.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a current ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.03.
Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.14% and a net margin of 21.54%. The business had revenue of $4.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was down 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Aflac Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.35%.
Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 8th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
About Aflac
Aflac, Inc is a holding company. engages in the provision of financial protection services. It operates through the followings segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac United States (U.S.). The Aflac Japan segment offers life insurance, death benefits, and cash surrender values. The Aflac U.S. segment sells voluntary supplemental insurance products for people who already have major medical or primary insurance coverage.
Read More
Receive News & Ratings for Aflac Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Aflac and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.
ABMN Staff
Source link
