Callan Capital LLC Acquires 377 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Callan Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the quarter. Callan Capital LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $349,699,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 12,313.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $167,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Aflac by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 653,275 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 11.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 556,394 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.93.

Aflac Stock Up 0.3%

AFL stock opened at $103.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $55.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.27. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $88.00 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The business 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 firm earned $1.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,728 shares in the company, valued at $711,149.60. The trade was a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 70,992 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.