Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Aprio Wealth Management LLC

Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 32.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 787 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eudaimonia Partners LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 234.6% during the fourth quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC now owns 10,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 7,325 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $1,558,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Aflac by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 633,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,262,000 after purchasing an additional 44,875 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 86,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,096,000 after purchasing an additional 15,855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its stake in Aflac by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 298,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,604,000 after purchasing an additional 100,937 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were 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 owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were 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 owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $89.64 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $66.91 and a fifty-two week high of $90.24. The company has a market capitalization of $50.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 22.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on AFL shares. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.38.

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.