Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. Buys 988 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 988 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 1,526.7% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.00, for a total transaction of $114,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,692,110. The trade was a 4.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 3,452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.10, for a total value of $397,325.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 230,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,552,188.80. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,174 shares of company stock worth $705,050. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 0.5%

AFL stock opened at $111.76 on Wednesday. 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 $58.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $109.94 and a 200-day moving average of $106.02.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The business 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 fiscal year.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Aflac from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $104.00 target price (up from $102.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.00.

About Aflac

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.