Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 183,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,800 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Aflac were worth $19,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Raelipskie Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $102.04 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $78.62 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50. The stock has a market cap of $56.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.17%.

Aflac Company Profile

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.