Foster & Motley Inc. Buys Shares of 73,300 Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 73,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,594,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $138.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.58.

Aflac Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $121.74 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $121.60 and a 200-day moving average of $116.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $61.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $104.66 and a 1-year high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 26.15%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 523,833 shares of company stock valued at $61,339,113 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

About Aflac

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.