Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stock Position Lifted by BIP Wealth LLC

BIP Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 26.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 602 shares during the quarter. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,310,640,000 after acquiring an additional 653,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,286,042,000 after purchasing an additional 288,482 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $349,699,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,768,000 after buying an additional 47,119 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $105.51 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $107.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.59 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $83.27 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company 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.