Creative Planning Boosts Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 221,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,268 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Aflac were worth $19,796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 3.7% in the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 3,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 21,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $111.80 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $74.89 and a 12-month high of $112.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $63.53 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AFL. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.36.

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.