Joseph L. Moskowitz Sells 1,000 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,791.84. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $105.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $85.54 and a one year high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.97, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $107.10 and a 200 day moving average of $106.55.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The business’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491,951 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter worth $140,746,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Company 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.