First Bancorp Inc ME Purchases New Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

First Bancorp Inc ME acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $116.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $121.56 and its 200 day moving average is $116.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $104.66 and a fifty-two week high of $130.22.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 494,225 shares of company stock worth $57,960,715 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $108.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Mizuho set a $116.00 price target on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.62.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.