Appleton Partners Inc. MA Makes New $552,000 Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,963 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisor Resource Council bought a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth $286,000. Segment Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth $475,000. Compass Ion Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth $202,000. LongView Wealth Management increased its position in Aflac by 35.8% during the first quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 26,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,930,000 after acquiring an additional 6,943 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 6.5% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 200,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $22,261,000 after acquiring an additional 12,211 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 70,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of AFL stock traded up $0.68 on Friday, reaching $103.31. The company had a trading volume of 6,258,903 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,115,602. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $55.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $104.91 and a 200-day moving average of $105.24. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $88.00 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.93.

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.