Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Holdings

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,076,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 51,054 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $120,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,093,787,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $404,639,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $298,418,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $244,516,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 161.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,184,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $349,405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,968,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 713,662 shares of company stock worth $83,323,978 in the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of AFL opened at $124.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $62.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $105.48 and a one year high of $130.22. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.90.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $101.00 price target (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Aflac from $137.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.20.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.