Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,428,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 58,381 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.28% of Aflac worth $159,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $123.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $116.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $105.48 and a 52 week high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,942,422,016.37. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 713,662 shares of company stock worth $83,323,978. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.20.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.