Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 328,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,506 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Aflac worth $36,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 276.8% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $85,000. Syon Capital LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 18,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. Valtrion Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Valtrion Capital Management LLC now owns 8,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AFL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

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 dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,641,978. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 908,146 shares of company stock valued at $103,042,983. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $118.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $119.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is $113.89 and its 200-day moving average is $111.80.

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). The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is currently 27.70%.

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.