16,867 Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL Bought by Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd

Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 16,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,978,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 51.3% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 168,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,526,000 after purchasing an additional 56,975 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,743,000. Atlas Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,802,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Aflac by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 63,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,018,000 after buying an additional 27,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth $6,630,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on AFL shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $108.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 price target (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $124.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho set a $116.00 target price on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $118.19 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $104.66 and a one year high of $130.22. The company has a market cap of $59.25 billion, a PE ratio of 12.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. This represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 492,725 shares of company stock worth $57,777,403 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.