Apeiron RIA LLC Has $357,000 Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Apeiron RIA LLC cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,207 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 206 shares during the period. Apeiron RIA LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $357,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 24.4% in the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apexium Financial LP increased its stake in Aflac by 3.4% in the first quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays set a $98.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:AFL opened at $107.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $57.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.85. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.14.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.