Liberty One Investment Management LLC Sells 1,585 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Liberty One Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,585 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,171,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 121.9% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth about $34,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $108.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $108.45 and a 200-day moving average of $105.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 52.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

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.