Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Holdings Lifted by Clarity Financial LLC

Clarity Financial LLC increased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the quarter. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 56,776 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 10.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $192,441,000 after acquiring an additional 13,575 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,607,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,725,000 after acquiring an additional 99,419 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,365,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,793,000 after acquiring an additional 6,372 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $110.81 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $105.97 and its 200-day moving average is $105.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business’s revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.