Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 7,086 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 250,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,086 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $26,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $140,746,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $60,954,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 146.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 772,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,422,000 after acquiring an additional 458,551 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 133.2% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 758,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $84,329,000 after acquiring an additional 433,134 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Aflac by 19.4% during the second quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,372,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $250,187,000 after acquiring an additional 385,546 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AFL. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $125.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.50.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $114.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $115.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $109.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 30.29%.

Aflac declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.00, for a total value of $114,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 23,615 shares in the company, valued at $2,692,110. This represents a 4.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Frederic Jean Guy Simard sold 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.50, for a total transaction of $193,725.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,364 shares in the company, valued at $153,450. The trade was a 55.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.80% 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.