Aflac Incorporated $AFL Position Increased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 161.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,184,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,968,738 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Aflac were worth $349,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Aflac by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 21,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total transaction of $1,441,599.80. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,947.40. This trade represents a 27.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total transaction of $3,249,789.95. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,898,490 shares in the company, valued at $5,940,362,767.90. This trade represents a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 744,916 shares of company stock valued at $87,118,632 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $123.34 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $125.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.92.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 27.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho set a $112.00 target price on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $108.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Evercore upgraded shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.50.

Aflac Profile

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.