Aflac Incorporated $AFL Position Trimmed by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 364 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after buying an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 price target (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Up 1.1%

AFL opened at $111.43 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $108.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.49. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $59.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 52.61%.

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.