Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 45,808 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Intech Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 39.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45,808 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 366.6% in the 2nd quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 9,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 7,622 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 67,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,330,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $213,000. 66.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James Todd Daniels sold 3,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.51, for a total value of $249,981.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 60,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,491,015.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Frederick John Crawford sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.37, for a total value of $8,137,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 236,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,247,178.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO James Todd Daniels sold 3,355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.51, for a total transaction of $249,981.05. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,491,015.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 173,205 shares of company stock valued at $13,995,397. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Aflac from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Aflac from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $79.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.80.

Aflac Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $81.79 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.89. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $60.20 and a one year high of $82.71. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $78.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.86% and a net margin of 24.17%. Aflac’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.25 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 14th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.13%.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates in two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. 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.