Echo Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Echo Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 7,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $781,000. Aflac comprises about 0.5% of Echo Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $1,512,000. Unison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 45,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,873,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $100,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.53.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4 %

AFL opened at $114.50 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.98. The company has a market cap of $65.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.