Strs Ohio Grows Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Strs Ohio grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 509.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 120,231 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1,526.7% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at $26,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at $32,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE AFL opened at $107.19 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $57.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $108.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.60.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. The firm 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%. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 52.61%.

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

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.