Modern Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Modern Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 112 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 90.8% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

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 value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $106.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.15.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $108.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $57.92 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.16. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

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.