Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC Increases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,237,000 after buying an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Aflac by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,181,000 after buying an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total transaction of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 70,992 shares in the company, valued at $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $101.25 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $104.99 and its 200 day moving average is $105.75. The firm has a market cap of $54.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $86.46 and a 52-week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.93.

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.