Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise cut its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 35.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,400 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Aflac were worth $682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 366.6% during the 2nd quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 9,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 7,622 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Aflac by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 67,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,330,000 after acquiring an additional 2,663 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 22.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. 66.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Aflac from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Aflac from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.30.

Aflac Trading Down 1.7 %

AFL opened at $80.42 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.16. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $60.20 and a 1-year high of $82.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 14th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 22.13%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 32,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.32, for a total value of $2,570,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 55,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,465,631.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO James Todd Daniels sold 3,355 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 60,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,491,015.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 32,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.32, for a total transaction of $2,570,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 55,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,465,631.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 165,556 shares of company stock worth $13,413,385. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.