SouthState Corp Has $1.14 Million Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Key Points

• SouthState Corp significantly increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 71.6% during the first quarter, holding a total worth of $1.14 million.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, despite experiencing a 19% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.58 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.2%.

SouthState Corp increased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 71.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,255 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,278 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp's holdings in Aflac were worth $1,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AFL. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Aflac by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Optas LLC grew its position in Aflac by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Aflac by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 30,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,433,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business'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 transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 70,992 shares in the company, valued at $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI restated an "underperform" rating and set a $106.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays set a $98.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $108.54.

Aflac Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of AFL traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $105.68. 800,411 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,160,397. The company has a market cap of $56.52 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.83. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Aflac's quarterly revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.61%.

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.