Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 111,562 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,756 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Aflac were worth $9,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,065,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,974 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Aflac by 24.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 675 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Aflac by 3.7% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,779 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $239,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at $445,850.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares of the company's stock, valued at $445,850.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $82.31.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL stock traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $83.21. 2,938,536 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,533,085. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $64.10 and a one year high of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $47.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.89.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 27.67%. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Aflac's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Aflac's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

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.

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