Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Decreases Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 39.8%, selling 2,359 shares and now holding 3,568 shares valued at approximately $397,000.
• Analysts have set a range of price targets for Aflac's stock, with Raymond James lowering their target from $115.00 to $110.00 while JPMorgan increased theirs from $96.00 to $100.00.
• Aflac recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share, with a dividend yield of 2.1% and a payout ratio of 52.61%.

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 39.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,568 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,359 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 90.8% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $109.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $104.09 and a 200 day moving average of $105.19. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac's payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Aflac

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.

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