Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 952 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Private Advisor Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 952 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 19.0% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 129,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,929,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 4.6% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 147,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,309,000 after acquiring an additional 21,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $164,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Truist Financial upped 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. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.69.

Aflac Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $90.21 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $51.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.25. 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 current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.