Aflac Incorporated $AFL Stock Holdings Raised by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,630,000. Atlas Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at $1,802,000. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth $2,546,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 137.4% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 40,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,796,000 after acquiring an additional 23,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 135.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 142,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,599,000 after acquiring an additional 81,803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho reduced their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Aflac from $137.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $101.00 target price (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.53.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock opened at $127.01 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $118.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.55. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $105.76 and a 1-year high of $131.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.63. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 12.82%. The business had revenue of $4.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of Aflac 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 700,062 shares of company stock valued at $81,675,348 in the last quarter. 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 to individuals and businesses. Its products are designed to help customers manage expenses that may not be covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, cancer, critical illness and hospital stays. The company operates primarily in the United States and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac offers workplace benefits such as accident, disability, dental, vision and life insurance. In Japan, it provides products including cancer, medical and life insurance.