Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 6,295 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 16.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,295 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $4,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 13.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Aflac by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,483,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $494,385,000 after buying an additional 69,025 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position 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 buying an additional 13,666 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth approximately $420,078,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,664,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,846,000 after acquiring an additional 32,907 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,641,978. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,053,156 shares of company stock worth $121,385,784. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays set a $99.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.27.

Aflac Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of AFL stock opened at $116.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $115.29 and a 200-day moving average of $112.26. The stock has a market cap of $59.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $96.95 and a 52-week high of $119.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued 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 business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 27.70%.

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.