DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Decreases Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 36.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,105 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main’s holdings in Aflac were worth $910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,529,000 after buying an additional 127,911 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 0.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 643,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,964,000 after purchasing an additional 3,244 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 146,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,363,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC grew its position in Aflac by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 6,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in Aflac by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 108,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,213,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of AFL opened at $105.91 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $57.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.59. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $85.50 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

Aflac 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.