Cerity Partners LLC Has $31.21 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 283,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,772 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $31,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Aflac Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE AFL opened at $117.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $119.81. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.91. The company has a market cap of $59.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.61.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,641,978. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 914,456 shares of company stock worth $104,340,566 over the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AFL. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on Aflac in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.27.

About Aflac

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.