Focus Partners Wealth Grows Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 43,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,306 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.21.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $103.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $107.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $85.77 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The business’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,802 shares of company stock worth $3,411,877 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.