Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Family Legacy Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Family Legacy Inc. now owns 2,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total transaction of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $102.56 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day moving average is $105.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $88.00 and a fifty-two week 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 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 return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. Research analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.93.

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.