2,915 Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL Purchased by MBB Public Markets I LLC

MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Aflac by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 43,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,548,000 after buying an additional 5,306 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 83,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,661,000 after buying an additional 16,497 shares during the period. Finally, NDVR Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 2,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $106.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $103.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.12. The firm has a market cap of $56.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.85.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.