Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC Boosts Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 469 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 12,313.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Aflac by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Aflac by 81.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays increased their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 70,992 shares in the company, valued at $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,149.60. The trade was a 29.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.3%

Aflac stock opened at $102.23 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $86.46 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $105.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.25%.

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.