Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.61 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 23,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,611,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Navalign LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in Aflac by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,641,978. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,082,471 shares of company stock valued at $124,943,184. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AFL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $120.04 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $120.27.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. 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 quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

Aflac Company Profile

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.