6,774 Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,774 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $23,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 27.8% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $609,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132,091 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position 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 worth $499,216,000 after acquiring an additional 67,650 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,555,000 after acquiring an additional 603,426 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Bank of America decreased their target price on Aflac from $137.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Aflac from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $120.12 on Thursday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $105.43 and a 52 week high of $130.22. The company’s 50 day moving average is $116.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $60.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.56.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict 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 issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 26.15%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.