Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $16.26 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 145,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,575 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $16,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its stake in Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.0 %

AFL opened at $109.80 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $75.07 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $110.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.16.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

About Aflac

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.