Hilltop National Bank Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 7.4% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 81,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,572 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $301,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 8.6% during the second quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 18,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,920,000 after buying an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 74.8% in the second quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,064,000 after buying an additional 4,317 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,575,019.85. This represents a 3.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $113.08 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $106.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.40. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $115.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.86.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The business’s revenue was down 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AFL. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.15.

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.