Deutsche Bank AG Sells 180,188 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Deutsche Bank AG decreased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,717,164 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 180,188 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.31% of Aflac worth $177,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $155,529,000 after buying an additional 127,911 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 643,686 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $71,964,000 after purchasing an additional 3,244 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 146,363 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,363,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 6,506 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 108,405 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,213,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.21.

Aflac Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $105.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $107.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.67. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $85.43 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $57.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.03, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company's revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is 36.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.

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