Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 366 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $754,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295 in the last 90 days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL opened at $103.71 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $105.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $86.46 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $56.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

About Aflac

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.