Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 824,947 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 23,455 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.15% of Aflac worth $85,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $88,533,000 after buying an additional 333,083 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $948,000. Willis Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 273,466 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $1,014,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Aflac by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 108,405 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Aflac in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.00.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total value of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL traded up $1.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $105.51. The stock had a trading volume of 1,434,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,119,856. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.99. The company has a market cap of $57.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $80.59 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 37.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. Aflac's payout ratio is 24.17%.

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.