332,776 Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Aflac stake by 75.3%, selling 332,776 shares in the third quarter and retaining 109,340 shares valued at approximately $12.2 million.
• Analysts’ consensus rating remains “Hold”, with a consensus price target of $117.20; ratings include one Strong Buy, three Buys, eight Holds and four Sells.
• Aflac reported quarterly revenue of $4.22 billion, above estimates, but earnings of $1.75 per share slightly missed expectations. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, representing a 2.1% yield.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,340 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 332,776 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $12,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Aflac from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Barclays reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $101.00 target price (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $117.20.

Aflac Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $118.79 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $116.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.33. The stock has a market cap of $59.55 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $105.43 and a 52-week high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.15%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $13,466,311.83. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 713,662 shares of company stock valued at $83,323,978. Insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated NYSE: AFL is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.

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