Wealthstar Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Wealthstar Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 75.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,205 shares during the period. Wealthstar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 14,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 3,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 54,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,796,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $753,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 163.5% during the 2nd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 25,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,723,000 after acquiring an additional 16,020 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Evercore ISI set a $110.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.45.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.7%

AFL opened at $111.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $107.30 and its 200-day moving average is $105.51. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.44. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.