Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Captrust Financial Advisors

Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,044,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,217 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors owned about 0.19% of Aflac worth $116,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 79.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 12,131 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.4% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,912 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 576.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 8,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,882 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 161.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,723,000 after purchasing an additional 191,975 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on AFL shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

Aflac Price Performance

Aflac stock opened at $114.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $63.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $75.07 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $111.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.23.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. Aflac’s revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

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.