Heartland Bank & Trust Co Purchases Shares of 3,249 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 3.7% during the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 3,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 21,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $111.80 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.18. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $74.89 and a 52-week high of $112.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.