PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators Purchases New Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 71,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,880,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at about $280,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Aflac by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 150,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,854,000 after purchasing an additional 15,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 11,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $118.37 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $60.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.80. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $119.81.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 925,446 shares of company stock worth $104,939,409 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

Aflac Company Profile

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.