Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Bought by Sage Private Wealth Group LLC

Sage Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Sage Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 2.8%

NYSE AFL opened at $106.73 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $108.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.49. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $115.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $57.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

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

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.