Forza Wealth Management LLC Purchases 298 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,363,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $140,746,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 133.2% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $84,329,000 after purchasing an additional 433,134 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $397,510,000 after purchasing an additional 349,787 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Aflac by 96.0% during the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 407,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,056,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Aflac by 59.2% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 510,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,824,000 after acquiring an additional 189,765 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Barclays set a $98.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $111.58 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.68 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.Aflac’s revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.