Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Increases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter worth about $54,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 116.7% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 178.6% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.87.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $104.71 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $58.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $75.07 and a 1-year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.51%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 30.12%.

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.