DAVENPORT & Co LLC Has $17.40 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 32.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 40,449 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $17,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Aflac in the second quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays set a $98.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.15.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $113.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.40. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. Aflac’s revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

Aflac 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.