Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 12,247 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 83.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,247 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AFL. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 168,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,526,000 after acquiring an additional 56,975 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 348.3% in the fourth quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 55,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,145,000 after purchasing an additional 43,293 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $3,743,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Aflac by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,866,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,712,000 after purchasing an additional 97,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,865,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $120.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $120.88. The company has a market cap of $61.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.89.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.70%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total transaction of $1,441,599.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,947.40. The trade was a 27.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total transaction of $3,249,789.95. Following the transaction, the insider owned 50,898,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,940,362,767.90. This represents a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 1,042,771 shares of company stock worth $120,575,104 over the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. Barclays set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.27.

Aflac Profile

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.