Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock: Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Trims Position

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 767,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 310,711 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned approximately 0.15% of Aflac worth $85,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 27.8% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after purchasing an additional 67,650 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,555,000 after purchasing an additional 603,426 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Aflac from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $110.00 price target (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.20.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of AFL opened at $120.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $116.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.47. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $105.43 and a 1 year high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given 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 (DPR) is currently 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.