Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $1.31 Million in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 11,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,308,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Evergreen Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $7,441,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 523,833 shares of company stock valued at $61,339,113. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $121.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $121.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.04. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $104.66 and a twelve month high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $124.00 target price (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho set a $116.00 price target on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Aflac from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $117.58.

Aflac Company Profile

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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