Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA Takes $5.36 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 45,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,363,000. Aflac comprises about 1.1% of Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in Aflac by 51.3% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 168,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,526,000 after purchasing an additional 56,975 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,743,000. Atlas Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth $1,802,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 63,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,018,000 after buying an additional 27,751 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth $6,630,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 492,725 shares of company stock worth $57,777,403 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 1.8%

AFL stock opened at $118.19 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $104.66 and a fifty-two week high of $130.22. The company has a market capitalization of $59.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $121.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 26.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 target price (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.62.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.