Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. Sells 689 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. lowered its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 689 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,820,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Aflac by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after acquiring an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after acquiring an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 8,861.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,113,000 after buying an additional 444,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Aflac by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after buying an additional 348,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.69.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $89.05. The stock had a trading volume of 1,687,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,080,387. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $69.00 and a 12 month high of $91.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

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.