Norden Group LLC Buys New Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 37,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,249,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth $346,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 896,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,850,000 after purchasing an additional 6,102 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 151.2% during the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,616,000 after purchasing an additional 36,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 43,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 3,611 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.69.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $89.09 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.97. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $69.00 and a twelve month high of $91.15. The company has a market capitalization of $50.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

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

Aflac Company 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.