Focused Alpha LLC Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Focused Alpha LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,301,056,000 after acquiring an additional 6,759,169 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth about $4,093,787,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,216,000 after acquiring an additional 67,650 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $420,078,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Aflac by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,555,000 after purchasing an additional 603,426 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $124.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.09, for a total transaction of $1,574,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,872,690 shares in the company, valued at $6,160,174,032.10. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.10, for a total transaction of $74,460.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 32,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,059,311. The trade was a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 541,333 shares of company stock worth $63,345,006 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $120.95 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $104.66 and a 52-week high of $130.22. The stock has a market cap of $60.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $121.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 26.15%.

Aflac Company 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.