Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,365,168 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 6,372 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.25% of Aflac worth $151,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $349,699,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $163,409,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12,313.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,504,067 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $167,237,000 after buying an additional 1,491,951 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Aflac by 22.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,357,753 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Aflac by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $285,181,000 after buying an additional 1,232,683 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $106.50.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $105.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,628,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,148,726. The stock's 50 day moving average is $104.55 and its 200 day moving average is $105.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $88.00 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.82.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Aflac had a return on equity of 15.55% and a net margin of 21.27%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's payout ratio is 36.25%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $3,906,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 70,992 shares in the company, valued at $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction, the director directly owned 26,096 shares in the company, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,750 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,295. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.