Lmcg Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Lmcg Investments LLC bought a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 116.7% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 178.6% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $104.71 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.80. The stock has a market cap of $58.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $75.07 and a 12-month high of $115.50. 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, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective 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 increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.87.

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.