Fifth Third Bancorp Reduces Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 20.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 73,979 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 19,134 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Aflac were worth $8,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after buying an additional 653,275 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,465,433 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,286,042,000 after buying an additional 288,482 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Aflac by 22.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,250,905 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $543,154,000 after buying an additional 556,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $349,699,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total transaction of $3,906,830.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.79, for a total value of $106,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,096 shares in the company, valued at $2,786,791.84. This represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AFL shares. Raymond James dropped their target price on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.93.

Aflac Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE AFL traded down $0.57 on Friday, reaching $102.06. 2,259,291 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,115,769. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $105.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.53. The company has a market cap of $55.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.82. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $86.55 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's payout ratio is 36.25%.

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.