Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,676,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 95,916 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Aflac were worth $293,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,301,056,000 after purchasing an additional 6,759,169 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,483,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $494,385,000 after buying an additional 69,025 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $420,078,000. Amundi boosted its stake in Aflac by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,664,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,846,000 after buying an additional 32,907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Aflac by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,125,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,340,000 after acquiring an additional 571,793 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total value of $1,441,599.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 33,310 shares in the company, valued at $3,881,947.40. The trade was a 27.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total transaction of $3,249,789.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 50,898,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,940,362,767.90. This trade represents a 0.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 744,916 shares of company stock worth $87,118,632 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore raised shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on Aflac from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho set a $112.00 price objective on Aflac in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.50.

Aflac Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of AFL opened at $124.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $63.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.71. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $125.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s 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.