Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stock Holdings Lifted by Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 33.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,588 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $484,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $347,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Aflac by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 530,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,803,000 after buying an additional 39,846 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 100,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,252,000 after acquiring an additional 12,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AFL. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $107.92 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.03. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $74.89 and a twelve month high of $111.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company has a market capitalization of $61.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.