ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 162,331 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,569,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 162,331 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $173,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,301,056,000 after acquiring an additional 6,759,169 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 7.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,047,000 after acquiring an additional 310,220 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.3% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,926,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $438,621,000 after acquiring an additional 13,666 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 11.0% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 2,631,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $297,583,000 after acquiring an additional 261,547 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,866,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,712,000 after acquiring an additional 97,766 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore upgraded shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aflac from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.36.

Aflac Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $118.58 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $119.32. The firm has a market cap of $60.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.37.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 27.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.73, for a total value of $68,238.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,885,102.64. The trade was a 2.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 1,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.57, for a total transaction of $202,831.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,540,938.83. The trade was a 11.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 674,615 shares of company stock valued at $75,311,551 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.