InterOcean Capital Group LLC Acquires 545 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 80.0% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Aflac stock traded down $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $94.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,264,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,197,835. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.54 and a 200 day moving average of $85.03. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $95.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

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.