Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 21.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,498 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,245 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.'s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 research note on Monday, May 19th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.93.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $2,786,791.84. The trade was a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,552 shares of company stock valued at $7,501,752. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:AFL traded up $1.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $103.71. 2,035,431 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,105,590. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $105.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $86.46 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

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

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.25%.

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.