Norris Perne & French LLP MI Invests $213,000 in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its position in Aflac by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 3,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth about $206,000. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth about $488,000. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Aflac by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 5,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Barclays upped their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This 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 this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $102.56 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $88.00 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $55.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50 day moving average is $105.02 and its 200-day moving average is $105.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is 36.25%.

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.