Welch Group LLC Sells 8,299 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Welch Group LLC cut its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 15.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,299 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AFL. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Navalign LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore raised shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,082,471 shares of company stock valued at $124,943,184. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $120.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $61.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $96.95 and a 12 month high of $120.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $115.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.50.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

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.