California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 142,797 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Key Points

• CalPERS reduced its Aflac stake by 12.5% in the first quarter, selling 142,797 shares and leaving it with about 999,037 shares valued at roughly $109.6 million.
• Analysts are cautious on Aflac, with the stock carrying a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $114.50 after several firms recently raised or trimmed their targets.
• Aflac’s recent results and shareholder returns were solid: the company posted revenue growth of 27.9% year over year, paid a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, and the stock was trading near its 52-week high.

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 999,037 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 142,797 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.19% of Aflac worth $109,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Navalign LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $124.00 price objective (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Aflac from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $114.50.

Aflac Stock Up 1.4%

AFL opened at $124.79 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $125.93. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $117.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $63.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.61.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.70%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 27,845 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.71, for a total value of $3,249,789.95. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 50,898,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,940,362,767.90. This represents a 0.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 12,370 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.54, for a total transaction of $1,441,599.80. Following the sale, the director owned 33,310 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,881,947.40. This trade represents a 27.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 744,916 shares of company stock valued at $87,118,632. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac's product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.

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