Insider Selling: Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Sells 2,750 Shares of Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This represents a 29.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE AFL opened at $106.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.49. The company has a market capitalization of $57.49 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $86.46 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aflac

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 288,482 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,753 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,307,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,161,000 after acquiring an additional 56,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $543,154,000 after acquiring an additional 556,394 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AFL shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.57.

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.