New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 347,935 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 70,200 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of Aflac worth $38,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $44,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total transaction of $290,675.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,149.60. This represents a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 owned 26,096 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,750 shares of company stock worth $4,304,295. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays set a $98.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $107.07.

Aflac Trading Up 0.1%

AFL traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $101.54. 1,056,809 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,149,314. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $92.44 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.18.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.01). Aflac had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were issued 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 yield of 2.28%. Aflac's payout ratio is 36.25%.

Aflac 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.