Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 6,091 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 83,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,091 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Aflac by 6.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Aflac by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,806,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,140,000 after acquiring an additional 113,226 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,243,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,029,000 after acquiring an additional 268,694 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Aflac by 0.7% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 980,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,163,000 after purchasing an additional 7,163 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 3.8% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 902,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,599,000 after purchasing an additional 32,934 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $107.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $74.89 and a 12 month high of $111.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, 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, June 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by 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.