Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Purchased by Natural Investments LLC

Natural Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the quarter. Natural Investments LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 11.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its holdings in Aflac by 11.7% in the first quarter. CX Institutional now owns 4,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 7.0% in the first quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AFL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Three 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $110.78 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $107.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.25 billion, a PE ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.61%.

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.