Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,396,675 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 76,353 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.62% of Aflac worth $377,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $192,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $206,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 11.6% during 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 period. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays set a $98.00 target price on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.93.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $103.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,434,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,151,541. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $88.00 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.14 and a 200 day moving average of $105.29. The company has a market cap of $55.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share 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 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is 36.25%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This trade represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently 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.