GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 1,491,951 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $167,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after purchasing an additional 288,482 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 11.9% in the 4th 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 valued at $543,154,000 after purchasing an additional 556,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $349,699,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 70,992 shares in the company, valued at $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,552 shares of company stock worth $7,609,382. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.93.

Aflac Trading Up 0.7%

AFL opened at $103.49 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.18. The company has a market capitalization of $55.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.78, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $86.46 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

About Aflac

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.