Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Cuts Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,025 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $140,746,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac by 133.2% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,329,000 after purchasing an additional 433,134 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $397,510,000 after purchasing an additional 349,787 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Aflac by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,515,000 after purchasing an additional 343,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in Aflac by 96.0% during the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 407,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,056,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE AFL opened at $107.82 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $108.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.37. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.