Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Purchased by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 38.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,129,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 315,102 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $119,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NorthRock Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% in 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 last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 2,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Aflac by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 3,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apexium Financial LP boosted its holdings in Aflac by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $106.70 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $115.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.62. The company has a market capitalization of $57.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

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

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

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.