Loudon Investment Management LLC Sells 1,990 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Loudon Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 14.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,990 shares during the quarter. Loudon Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $140,746,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 10.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 349,787 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in Aflac by 96.0% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 407,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,056,000 after acquiring an additional 199,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Aflac by 59.2% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 510,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,824,000 after purchasing an additional 189,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays set a $98.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $106.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $111.58 on Wednesday. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $105.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.33. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $59.68 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.85.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its board has authorized a share 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.