BKM Wealth Management LLC Buys 2,525 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 13.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,525 shares during the quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at $288,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in Aflac by 113.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 44,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,390,000 after purchasing an additional 23,433 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Aflac by 74.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 18,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,430,000 after purchasing an additional 7,926 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac by 111.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac by 78.7% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 25,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,991,000 after purchasing an additional 11,428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two investment 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.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.46.

Aflac Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:AFL traded down $0.14 on Monday, reaching $89.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 456,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,235,577. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $69.00 and a 1-year high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $50.67 billion, a PE ratio of 9.86, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $87.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.82.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.