New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $39.79 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 357,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 35,901 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of Aflac worth $39,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 12,313.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,491,951 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Aflac by 22.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,357,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Aflac by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $285,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

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

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 994,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,150,489. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a current ratio of 0.09. The firm's 50-day moving average is $104.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.21. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $88.00 and a 1-year high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $56.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.34, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AFL. Barclays increased their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.50.

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.