OP Asset Management Ltd Purchases Shares of 52,244 Aflac Incorporated $AFL

OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 52,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,732,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in Aflac by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 21,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Aflac by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL stock opened at $120.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.50. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $120.27. The company has a market capitalization of $61.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s payout ratio is 27.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total value of $3,249,789.95. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 50,898,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,940,362,767.90. The trade was a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,947.40. The trade was a 27.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,082,471 shares of company stock worth $124,943,184 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.