Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Bought by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 224.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 101,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,306 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Aflac were worth $11,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Aflac by 64.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $192,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 351.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $163,409,000. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $287,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $104.57 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $104.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.26. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $88.00 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $56.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 26,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Company 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.