Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Reduces Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,868 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Aflac were worth $12,099,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Navalign LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth $33,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 80.6% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays set a $99.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.27.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 5,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.81, for a total value of $648,897.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,537 shares in the company, valued at $4,775,663.97. This represents a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 9,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.22, for a total value of $1,030,302.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,293,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,807,398,554.90. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 919,536 shares of company stock worth $104,156,673. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $112.30 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $119.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.62. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.76.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 2.2%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 27.70%.

About Aflac

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.