Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 4,253 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,253 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,923 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,585 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 2,210.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 158,535 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 151,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 59,813 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,187,000 after buying an additional 4,658 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,728 shares in the company, valued at $711,149.60. The trade was a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Aflac Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $103.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $86.46 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $105.39 and a 200 day moving average of $105.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's payout ratio is 36.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.

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