Miwako Hosoda Sells 243 Shares of Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Miwako Hosoda sold 243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.50, for a total transaction of $27,823.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $886,573.50. The trade was a 3.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Aflac Stock Down 0.5%

AFL stock opened at $112.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $111.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $110.96. The stock has a market cap of $57.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.62.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BIP Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 348.3% in the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 55,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,145,000 after buying an additional 43,293 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,731,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,407,000 after buying an additional 163,791 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 126.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 21,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,384,000 after buying an additional 11,903 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,866,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,712,000 after buying an additional 97,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 97,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,841,000 after buying an additional 10,423 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Evercore upgraded shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays set a $99.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.36.

About Aflac

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.