Ibex Wealth Advisors Buys Shares of 9,477 Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Ibex Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 9,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,040,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Navalign LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total transaction of $3,249,789.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 50,898,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,940,362,767.90. This represents a 0.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total transaction of $1,441,599.80. Following the sale, the director owned 33,310 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,881,947.40. This trade represents a 27.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 744,916 shares of company stock valued at $87,118,632. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AFL opened at $121.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $122.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.21.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 27.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Aflac from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.64.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.