42,440 Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL Bought by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 42,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,976,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,093,787,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $420,078,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $298,418,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Aflac by 161.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,184,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $349,405,000 after buying an additional 1,968,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $222,375,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 502,125 shares of company stock worth $58,965,806. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $108.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $116.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $121.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.21. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $104.66 and a 52-week high of $130.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.