Whipplewood Advisors LLC Acquires 229 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1,526.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 229 shares during the quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AFL. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on 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 Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.45.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3%

AFL stock opened at $107.46 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.43. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $108.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.61. 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 has a market capitalization of $57.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.