Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock: Vest Financial LLC Raises Stake

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 888,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 175,634 shares during the quarter. Aflac accounts for approximately 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Vest Financial LLC owned approximately 0.18% of Aflac worth $99,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,630,000. Atlas Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,802,000. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,546,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 137.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 40,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,796,000 after acquiring an additional 23,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Aflac by 135.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 142,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,599,000 after acquiring an additional 81,803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Aflac from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $138.00 price target (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.20.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $120.12 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $116.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.47. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $105.43 and a 52 week high of $130.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 26.15%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.