Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Founders Financial Securities LLC

Founders Financial Securities LLC trimmed its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 194 shares during the quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after acquiring an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,190,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $263,254,000 after acquiring an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $197,820,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after acquiring an additional 348,400 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.46.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $89.31 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $87.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.82. The firm has a market cap of $50.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.96. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $68.34 and a 1 year high of $91.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

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.