Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 716 shares during the quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 3.8% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 8,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 6.8% in the second quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after buying an additional 2,399 shares during the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 18.4% in the second quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 2.0% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 333,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,208,000 after buying an additional 6,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the director 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 SEC, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:AFL opened at $110.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.48. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $115.44.

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

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

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.