Flputnam Investment Management Co. Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 24,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,832,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Evergreen Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $138.00 price target (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $99.00 price target (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on Aflac in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.10, for a total value of $74,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 32,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,059,311. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 50,898,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,940,362,767.90. This represents a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 578,333 shares of company stock worth $67,710,836 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $121.38 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $104.66 and a fifty-two week high of $130.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $121.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

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.