Bank of America Corp DE Takes $244.52 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• Bank of America acquired a new $244.5 million stake in Aflac, purchasing 2.09 million shares and representing 0.42% ownership. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 67.44% of Aflac.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $116.62. Recent targets range from $108 to $125.
• Aflac reported quarterly revenue of $4.22 billion, ahead of estimates, but earnings per share of $1.75 narrowly missed expectations. The company maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.61, equivalent to a 2.1% annualized yield.

Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,085,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $244,516,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.42% of Aflac at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,093,787,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $499,216,000 after purchasing an additional 67,650 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $420,078,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Aflac by 22.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $358,555,000 after purchasing an additional 603,426 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total value of $3,249,789.95. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,898,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,940,362,767.90. The trade was a 0.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 328,315 shares of company stock worth $38,561,442 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AFL. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $108.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $122.00 target price on Aflac and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Mizuho set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $116.62.

Aflac Stock Down 0.7%

AFL stock opened at $116.78 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $58.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $105.43 and a 12 month high of $130.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $120.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.43.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated is an insurance company that provides supplemental health and life insurance products. Its coverage is designed to help policyholders manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including costs associated with accidents, illness, hospitalization, disability and critical illness.

Through its U.S. operations, Aflac markets policies to individuals, businesses and employees through workplace benefit programs, independent agents and brokers. The company is also a major provider of supplemental insurance in Japan, where it offers products focused primarily on cancer, medical and income-support coverage.

Founded in 1955 in Columbus, Georgia, as American Family Life Assurance Company, the business adopted the name Aflac in 1990.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.