Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Purchases 6,080 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 22.1%, acquiring an additional 6,080 shares to bring its total holdings to 33,594 shares, valued at approximately $3.54 million.
• Aflac's board has initiated a stock buyback program authorizing the repurchase of 100 million shares, which indicates confidence in the company's valuation.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Aflac, with a consensus price target of $109.15, and ratings ranging from Buy to Sell across different brokerages.

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 22.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,080 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $3,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $725,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apexium Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This trade represents a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE AFL opened at $112.24 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $106.31 and a 200-day moving average of $105.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86. 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.

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

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. 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, August 11th. Finally, 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, August 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.15.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.