Certified Advisory Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $484,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $347,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 530,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,803,000 after acquiring an additional 39,846 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 13.9% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $253,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.50.

Aflac Stock Up 0.0 %

AFL opened at $107.92 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.03. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $74.89 and a 52 week high of $111.14. 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 has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.85%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.