PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators Takes $7.88 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators bought a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 71,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,880,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 21,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $902,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 925,446 shares of company stock valued at $104,939,409 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE AFL opened at $118.37 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $113.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.80. The stock has a market cap of $60.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $96.95 and a 12-month high of $119.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays set a $99.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.27.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.