Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Purchased by Kestra Advisory Services LLC

Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 12.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,252 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,093,787,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $404,639,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $298,418,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $244,516,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Aflac by 161.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,184,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $349,405,000 after buying an additional 1,968,738 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Aflac from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.53.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 700,062 shares of company stock worth $81,675,348 in the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $127.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $105.76 and a 1 year high of $131.18. The firm has a market cap of $62.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.55.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.63. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 35.57%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance to individuals and businesses. Its products are designed to help customers manage expenses that may not be covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, cancer, critical illness and hospital stays. The company operates primarily in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac offers workplace benefits such as accident, disability, dental, vision and life insurance. In Japan, it provides products including cancer, medical and life insurance.