Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Bought by Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC

Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 139.0% during the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 2,859 shares during the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 73.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 30,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,207,000 after acquiring an additional 12,894 shares during the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 30,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,178,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 644.7% during the 2nd quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 14,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after acquiring an additional 12,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of AFL opened at $112.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $60.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.