Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Stock Position Boosted by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $948,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $192,000. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $318,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 2,210.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 158,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 151,673 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,935,000 after purchasing an additional 3,454 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $103.71 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $105.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.87. The company has a market cap of $56.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $86.46 and a 12-month high of $115.50. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AFL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.93.

Aflac 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.