Royal Palms Capital LLC Invests $2.96 Million in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Royal Palms Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 26,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,963,000. Aflac accounts for approximately 3.5% of Royal Palms Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Expressive Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares during the period. M3 Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,489,000. Integrity Alliance LLC. bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $481,000. Finally, Integrity Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Integrity Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on Aflac in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $116.89 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.78. The company has a market capitalization of $59.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.62. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $119.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 30,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.61, for a total value of $3,575,344.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,362,645 shares in the company, valued at $6,040,760,678.45. The trade was a 0.06% decrease in their position. The transaction 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. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.55, for a total value of $268,065.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,978.30. This trade represents a 27.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 844,428 shares of company stock worth $95,391,275 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.