Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Lifted by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,910 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 9,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Aflac by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 17,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 0.5% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.5% in the third quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 4,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE AFL traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $110.02. The company had a trading volume of 330,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,213,266. The stock has a market cap of $62.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The business’s 50-day moving average is $110.52 and its 200-day moving average is $97.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

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.