Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $13,867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $745,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. TriaGen Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC increased its position in Aflac by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Aflac by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC now owns 3,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. Bank of America boosted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Aflac from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.50.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, reaching $110.21. The company had a trading volume of 24,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,210,122. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $73.79 and a 1 year high of $111.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.73 and its 200 day moving average is $89.68. The company has a market cap of $62.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Aflac 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.