DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 1,585 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 436,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,585 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.08% of Aflac worth $46,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth $28,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 121.9% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 90.8% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on AFL shares. UBS Group reduced 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. 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. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.45.

Aflac Trading Down 0.5%

AFL opened at $108.25 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $57.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $108.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.43.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Profile

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.