Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stake Boosted by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 13.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 139,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,293 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Markowski Investments purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Aflac from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.53.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $127.01 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $105.76 and a 52-week high of $131.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $62.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.55.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.63. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 35.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 700,062 shares of company stock valued at $81,675,348 in the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance to individuals and businesses. Its products are designed to help customers manage expenses that may not be covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, cancer, critical illness and hospital stays. The company operates primarily in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac offers workplace benefits such as accident, disability, dental, vision and life insurance. In Japan, it provides products including cancer, medical and life insurance.