Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Purchased by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,703,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 70,244 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.32% of Aflac worth $178,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in 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 during the period. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $102.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0%

AFL opened at $107.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $108.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.44.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Company 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.