Norges Bank Acquires New Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,809,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $420,078,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in Aflac by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 21,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $902,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 9,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $112.30 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $119.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $113.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.76. The company has a market cap of $57.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,641,978. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 919,536 shares of company stock worth $104,156,673. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. 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 report on Friday, April 10th. Evercore upgraded shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.27.

Aflac Company 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.