AGF Management Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

AGF Management Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 718,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,790 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $79,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,213,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $125,519,000 after purchasing an additional 11,345 shares during the period. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 3,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $647,000. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 11,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Aflac from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Aflac from $106.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.08.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $103.48 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $102.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.61%.

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.