Eastern Bank Buys Shares of 10,247 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 10,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,146,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vicus Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 3rd quarter valued at about $221,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 31.1% in the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 2,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 13,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1858 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at about $240,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.53.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $112.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.37. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.