Aflac Incorporated $AFL Holdings Decreased by Axa S.A.

Axa S.A. lessened its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 38.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 146,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 93,332 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Aflac by 1,526.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at $34,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $104.00 target price (up from $102.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.00.

Aflac Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE AFL opened at $107.07 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $110.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $115.83. The stock has a market cap of $56.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Aflac had a return on equity of 14.97% and a net margin of 23.55%.The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.29%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 15,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $1,776,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 230,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,837,056. This trade represents a 6.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 3,452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.26, for a total transaction of $377,165.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,792,143.60. This represents a 7.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 26,274 shares of company stock worth $2,948,167 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.