Veriti Management LLC Purchases 1,368 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Veriti Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Veriti Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $271,422,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,468,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,531,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,957,903,000 after purchasing an additional 379,178 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in shares of Aflac by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,501,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,682,000 after purchasing an additional 369,258 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,145,000. 66.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

In other Aflac news, Director Toshihiko Fukuzawa sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.50, for a total value of $85,150.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Karole Lloyd bought 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.36 per share, for a total transaction of $59,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,588 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,583.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,287 shares of company stock valued at $214,350 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Several equities analysts recently commented on AFL shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, May 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.30.

Shares of AFL opened at $53.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $34.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $51.28 and a fifty-two week high of $67.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.60.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.04. Aflac had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $5.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.27%.

About Aflac (Get Rating)

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates through two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care income support, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.

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