585 Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Acquired by Altshuler Shaham Ltd

Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on AFL shares. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.31.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $85.38. 1,279,105 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,286,704. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.01. The firm has a market cap of $48.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

Aflac 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.