Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 89,733 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 16.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 646,309 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 89,733 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.12% of Aflac worth $71,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ibex Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.6% during the first quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors now owns 11,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,235,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 11.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 8.6% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth approximately $3,643,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.93.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. The trade was a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 0.6%

AFL traded down $0.57 on Friday, reaching $102.06. 2,259,291 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,115,769. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $105.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.53. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $86.55 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $55.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

Aflac 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.