Centiva Capital LP Has $553,000 Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Centiva Capital LP reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 65.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,345 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,254 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP's holdings in Aflac were worth $553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,791.84. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,802 shares of company stock valued at $3,411,877 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.5%

Aflac stock traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $105.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,078,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,789. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $85.50 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $57.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm's 50 day moving average is $107.16 and its 200 day moving average is $106.56.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

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.