Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 12,211 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 12,211 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $22,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the first 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 shares of Aflac by 22.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Aflac by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $285,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5%

Aflac stock opened at $102.56 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $88.00 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a market capitalization of $55.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.82.

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). Aflac had a net margin of 21.27% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Aflac's payout ratio is 36.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total transaction of $106,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.93.

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.

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