Dakota Wealth Management Sells 2,597 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Dakota Wealth Management reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 9.3%, selling 2,597 shares during the second quarter, and now holds 25,455 shares valued at approximately $2.68 million.
• Various institutional investors are actively adjusting their positions in Aflac, with significant stake increases noted from Perigon Wealth Management, TD Private Client Wealth, and new acquisitions by others, bringing institutional ownership to 67.44%.
• Aflac declared a quarterly dividend of $0.58, with a current annualized yield of 2.1%, and announced a share buyback program for up to 100 million shares, indicating confidence in the stock's value.

Dakota Wealth Management cut its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 9.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,597 shares during the quarter. Dakota Wealth Management's holdings in Aflac were worth $2,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 12.7% in the second quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $227,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 5,955 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 1,123 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Aflac by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 222,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $23,485,000 after buying an additional 28,190 shares during the period. Finally, CHB Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth about $3,933,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AFL. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Evercore ISI reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.15.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $109.50 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $105.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.22. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.50. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $58.56 billion, a PE ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.85.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.61%.

Aflac declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Aflac

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

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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