SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Sells 248 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 248 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth $559,000. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth $241,000. Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc purchased a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter worth $442,000. Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Aflac by 6.8% in the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 882,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,093,000 after buying an additional 55,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Coast Financial LLC increased its position in Aflac by 3.0% in the first quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 6,124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This trade represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,552 shares of company stock valued at $7,501,752. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $103.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $56.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $86.46 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $105.39 and a 200-day moving average of $105.92.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 36.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AFL. Raymond James decreased their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. UBS Group raised 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.93.

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.