Choreo LLC Takes $203,000 Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marco Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 93,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,717,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $180,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $322,000. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 194,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,006,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 21,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,772,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.31.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $83.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $47.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $83.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.89.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Aflac

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.