Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Sold by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,461 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 27.8% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $609,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,091 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after acquiring an additional 67,650 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Aflac by 22.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,555,000 after purchasing an additional 603,426 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.20.

Aflac Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE AFL opened at $123.99 on Monday. 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 has a market cap of $62.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.56. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $105.48 and a 52 week high of $130.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $116.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.81.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About Aflac

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.