Copperwynd Financial LLC Buys 153 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,161,000 after buying an additional 56,776 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,510,000 after purchasing an additional 349,787 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,441,000 after purchasing an additional 13,575 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,654,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,515,000 after purchasing an additional 343,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,607,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,725,000 after purchasing an additional 99,419 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.17.

Aflac Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $111.87 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $107.06 and its 200 day moving average is $105.50. The firm has a market cap of $59.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the 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 owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.