Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A

OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 25.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A’s holdings in Aflac were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $140,746,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,954,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 133.2% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,329,000 after acquiring an additional 433,134 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Finally, 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 buying an additional 343,881 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Aflac Trading Down 0.3%

AFL opened at $107.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $57.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.86. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $108.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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.