VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys Shares of 16,200 Aflac Incorporated $AFL

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,899,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in Aflac by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 168,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,526,000 after buying an additional 56,975 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $3,743,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,630,000. Atlas Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $1,802,000. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 716.1% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 17,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,926,000 after purchasing an additional 15,325 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AFL shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Mizuho set a $116.00 price target on Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Up 0.7%

AFL opened at $115.28 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $105.43 and a fifty-two week high of $130.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $121.08 and its 200 day moving average is $116.31. The stock has a market cap of $57.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 13,600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.44, for a total transaction of $1,569,984.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,625,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,844,206,565.60. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 375,815 shares of company stock worth $44,190,500 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance products. Its coverage is designed to help policyholders manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, illness, hospitalization, disability and critical illness.

Through its U.S. operations, Aflac markets policies to individuals, businesses and employees through workplace benefit programs, independent agents and brokers. The company is also a major provider of supplemental insurance in Japan, where it offers products focused primarily on cancer, medical and income-support coverage.

Founded in 1955 in Columbus, Georgia, as American Family Life Assurance Company, the business adopted the name Aflac in 1990.