Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 804 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs acquired a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,070,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $551,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,626,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.8% during the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 32,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,478,000 after acquiring an additional 3,484 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. 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 report on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Up 1.1%

Aflac stock opened at $111.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $59.59 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $108.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.49. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 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.