Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Has $208,000 Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 17.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 417 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Aflac by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Aflac by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 30.8% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 120,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,449,000 after acquiring an additional 28,503 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction 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. 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:AFL opened at $108.25 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $108.55 and its 200-day moving average is $105.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.43. The firm has a market cap of $57.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.