Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Unison Advisors LLC

Unison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 45,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 252 shares during the quarter. Unison Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,190,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $263,254,000 after acquiring an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $197,820,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 6.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,806,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,140,000 after purchasing an additional 113,226 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,577,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,129,000 after purchasing an additional 64,202 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its holdings in Aflac by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,483,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,407,000 after purchasing an additional 46,642 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.08.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $101.21. 1,628,608 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,241,897. The stock has a market cap of $57.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $72.78 and a 12 month high of $104.90.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.