Fourpath Capital Management LLC Takes $208,000 Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Fourpath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $948,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $192,000. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at about $318,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 2,210.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 158,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 151,673 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,935,000 after buying an additional 3,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James dropped their price target on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.93.

Aflac Stock Down 0.3%

AFL stock opened at $102.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.78. The company has a market cap of $55.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $86.46 and a twelve month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The business’s revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total transaction of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Profile

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.