Liberty One Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 31.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,584 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dickmeyer Boyce Financial Management Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,004,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 136,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,976,000 after purchasing an additional 11,989 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12.1% during the first quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 57,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,344,000 after buying an additional 6,264 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Aflac by 161.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,184,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $349,405,000 after buying an additional 1,968,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Aflac by 31.9% in the first quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 54,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,990,000 after buying an additional 13,211 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. Evercore upgraded shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho set a $112.00 price target on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total value of $1,441,599.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,881,947.40. This trade represents a 27.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total value of $3,249,789.95. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 50,898,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,940,362,767.90. This trade represents a 0.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 744,916 shares of company stock valued at $87,118,632 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $124.36 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, 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 $125.93. The firm has a market cap of $63.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.61.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 27.70%.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.