Balentine LLC Acquires New Shares in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Balentine LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,946 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,217,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $349,699,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 12,313.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $167,237,000 after buying an additional 1,491,951 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Aflac by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,296,014 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $754,700,000 after buying an additional 1,357,753 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after buying an additional 653,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $543,154,000 after buying an additional 556,394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $107.07.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AFL traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $101.78. 4,577,769 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,153,065. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $93.00 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.90, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its 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 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the sale, the director owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

About Aflac

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.