Syverson Strege & Co Takes $277,000 Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Syverson Strege & Co purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 1,526.7% in the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $107.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $108.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.62. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.43. The stock has a market cap of $57.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.