2,266 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Purchased by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in Aflac by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp grew its position in Aflac by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 6,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 13,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AFL. UBS Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.50.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $108.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $61.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. 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 Incorporated has a 1-year low of $73.79 and a 1-year high of $111.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $99.12 and a 200-day moving average of $89.89.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.