Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Sage Mountain Advisors LLC

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC cut its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 695 shares during the quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,161,000 after buying an additional 56,776 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $192,441,000 after buying an additional 13,575 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,703,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,056,000 after buying an additional 70,244 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 343,881 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $102.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $107.22 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $108.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.60. The stock has a market cap of $57.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.43.

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

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio 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.