Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Holdings Cut by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Free Report) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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. owned approximately 0.21% of Aflac worth $120,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $124.57 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $116.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.90. The stock has a market cap of $62.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AFL. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.20.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Aflac

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Aflac (NYSE:AFL)

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