5,799 Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL Acquired by Summitry LLC

Summitry LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $639,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,301,056,000 after acquiring an additional 6,759,169 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,047,000 after acquiring an additional 310,220 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,926,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $438,621,000 after acquiring an additional 13,666 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 2,631,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $297,583,000 after acquiring an additional 261,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 97,766 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 814,028 shares of company stock worth $91,815,931. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Aflac from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho set a $104.00 price target on Aflac in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.82.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1%

AFL opened at $117.78 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $112.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.74. The company has a market capitalization of $59.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.62. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $119.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.