Trivium Point Advisory LLC Sells 1,333 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Trivium Point Advisory LLC lessened its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 32.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,333 shares during the period. Trivium Point Advisory LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 110.7% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $653,000 after acquiring an additional 3,318 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 203.3% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 290,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,041,000 after acquiring an additional 194,653 shares during the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 19,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,012,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Square LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 70,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $105.35 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $56.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.83. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.85.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Two 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.54.

About Aflac

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.