Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Invests $763,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $763,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 169.6% in the 4th quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,366,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,344,000 after acquiring an additional 26,131 shares during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,855,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 23,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 3,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NDVR Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 2,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $103.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.54. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $85.77 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $56.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84.

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). The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. This trade represents a 37.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,802 shares of company stock valued at $3,411,877. Insiders own 0.90% 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.