CIBC Asset Management Inc Buys 42,979 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 224,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,979 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $24,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,301,056,000 after purchasing an additional 6,759,169 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Aflac by 7.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,047,000 after buying an additional 310,220 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Aflac by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,926,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $438,621,000 after acquiring an additional 13,666 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $420,078,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 2,631,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $297,583,000 after acquiring an additional 261,547 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $104.00 price target on Aflac in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore raised shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

Aflac Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $115.44 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $113.66 and a 200 day moving average of $111.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $119.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.61.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 9,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.39, for a total transaction of $1,105,552.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,265,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,942,318.65. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 5,508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.81, for a total transaction of $648,897.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,775,663.97. This represents a 11.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 909,146 shares of company stock valued at $103,061,812 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.