Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new position in Aflac during the first quarter valued at $2,070,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the first quarter valued at $551,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 121.9% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $2,626,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 11.8% in the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 32,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,478,000 after acquiring an additional 3,484 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group reduced 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler set a $125.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $102.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $111.09 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $107.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Aflac declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.