7,779 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Acquired by Sowell Financial Services LLC

Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,779 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $865,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG purchased a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $243,000. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 30,685 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,412,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 27,126 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $104.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac 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 of the company's stock, valued at $711,149.60. The trade was a 29.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $103.31. 6,258,903 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,129,449. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $104.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market cap of $55.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $88.00 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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 $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

Aflac 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.