Salomon & Ludwin LLC Trims Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Salomon & Ludwin LLC decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 87.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,409 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $42,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 8.7% during the second quarter. Obsidian Personal Planning Solutions LLC now owns 2,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in Aflac by 2.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 358,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,023,000 after purchasing an additional 9,830 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank raised its stake in Aflac by 12.9% during the second quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 28,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,521,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its stake in Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 114,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,263,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in Aflac by 17.9% during the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 35,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,128,000 after purchasing an additional 5,329 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. 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. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.69.

Aflac Stock Up 0.1 %

AFL traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $107.50. 567,842 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,217,577. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $95.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.90. The company has a market cap of $61.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $73.62 and a fifty-two week high of $108.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The business’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.