Drive Wealth Management LLC Purchases 212 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AFL. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 10.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the first 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 4.3% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,703,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,056,000 after acquiring an additional 70,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,515,000 after purchasing an additional 343,881 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0%

Aflac stock opened at $108.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $58.17 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Company 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.