Capital Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 7.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,555 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $948,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $192,000. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 2,210.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 158,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 151,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,935,000 after purchasing an additional 3,454 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $103.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $86.46 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.87. The company has a market capitalization of $56.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.93.

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.