Darwin Wealth Management LLC Invests $34,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 79.7% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after acquiring an additional 12,131 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased 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 buying an additional 5,912 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at $2,535,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in Aflac by 576.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 8,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 6,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Aflac by 161.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 311,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,723,000 after acquiring an additional 191,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AFL. Bank of America increased their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given 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 Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $112.09 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $110.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.24. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio 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.