CW Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

CW Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 102.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 159,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,770 shares during the quarter. CW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $16,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,161,000 after purchasing an additional 56,776 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth $432,201,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 10.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,575,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $397,510,000 after acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 19.4% in the second quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,372,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,187,000 after acquiring an additional 385,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.8% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,730,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,441,000 after purchasing an additional 13,575 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $104.00 price objective (up from $102.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.00.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $109.04 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $110.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 23.55% and a return on equity of 14.97%. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 31.85%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 15,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total value of $1,776,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 230,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,837,056. The trade was a 6.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.75, for a total value of $89,407.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 24,829 shares in the company, valued at $2,824,298.75. This represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,822 shares of company stock valued at $2,571,002. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.