Hamilton Capital LLC Takes Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Hamilton Capital LLC bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $508,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AFL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,093,787,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after purchasing an additional 67,650 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $420,078,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,555,000 after buying an additional 603,426 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AFL. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $124.00 target price (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $138.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Down 0.9%

AFL stock opened at $116.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.38 billion, a PE ratio of 12.48, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $104.66 and a 1-year high of $130.22. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.21.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly 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). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,044,133,662.20. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 502,125 shares of company stock valued at $58,965,806 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Aflac

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.