Echo Wealth Management LLC Takes $781,000 Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Echo Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $781,000. Aflac accounts for 0.5% of Echo Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 7,001.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 658,303 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.6% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,338,000 after acquiring an additional 405,847 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,588,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 27.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,243,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,029,000 after purchasing an additional 268,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.53.

Aflac Stock Down 0.4 %

AFL stock opened at $114.50 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.