Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Purchases 107 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $113.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $106.56 and a 200-day moving average of $105.40. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.44. The stock has a market cap of $60.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86.

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

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 52.61%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Saturday, September 27th. UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.15.

Aflac Company 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.