Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Legal Advantage Investments Inc.

Legal Advantage Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth about $140,746,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 133.2% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,329,000 after acquiring an additional 433,134 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 10.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 26.2% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,515,000 after purchasing an additional 343,881 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 96.0% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 407,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,056,000 after purchasing an additional 199,583 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $110.78 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $107.55 and a 200 day moving average of $105.48. 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 stock has a market cap of $59.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm 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 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 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Aflac

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.