Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Heritage Financial Services LLC

Heritage Financial Services LLC reduced its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. Heritage Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Eudaimonia Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 234.6% during the fourth quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC now owns 10,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 7,325 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 86,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,096,000 after buying an additional 15,855 shares in the last quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 139,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,481,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 6.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,546,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 1.2 %

AFL stock traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $106.61. 2,351,589 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,231,931. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $72.78 and a 1-year high of $106.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.41.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.