US Bancorp DE Lowers Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

US Bancorp DE lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 772 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Aflac by 99,608.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,691,395,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,059,415,000 after buying an additional 1,689,699,293 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 338.0% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,604,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,656,000 after acquiring an additional 4,325,212 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Aflac by 71.2% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,512,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $420,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,707,608 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth approximately $175,416,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Aflac by 62.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $317,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.75% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $81.77 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $60.20 and a twelve month high of $82.71. The firm has a market cap of $47.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.30.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.86% and a net margin of 24.17%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 14th. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 26.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James Todd Daniels sold 3,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 60,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,491,015.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO James Todd Daniels sold 3,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,491,015.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William P. Bowers sold 23,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total transaction of $1,931,868.51. Following the sale, the director now owns 60,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,218.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 165,556 shares of company stock worth $13,413,385. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Aflac from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 26th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Aflac from $79.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.67.

About Aflac

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.