Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock: Davis Investment Partners LLC Raises Stake

Davis Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 209.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,019 shares during the quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 13.3% during the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 139,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,560,000 after buying an additional 16,293 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 12,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 19,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,128,000 after acquiring an additional 2,761 shares during the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 4,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 8,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,499 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 713,062 shares of company stock worth $83,249,518. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $126.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $62.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $117.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.38. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $105.76 and a one year high of $131.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.63. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.12 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 35.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Aflac from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $138.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.53.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance to individuals and businesses. Its products are designed to help customers manage expenses that may not be covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, cancer, critical illness and hospital stays. The company operates primarily in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac offers workplace benefits such as accident, disability, dental, vision and life insurance. In Japan, it provides products including cancer, medical and life insurance.