Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Carmel Capital Partners LLC

Carmel Capital Partners LLC cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 156 shares during the quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $400,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 64.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 11.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 7.1% during the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 7,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $855,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.45.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AFL opened at $107.82 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $108.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.46. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its board 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.