143,749 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL Bought by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 143,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,068,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,093,787,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 27.8% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,201,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $609,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,091 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Aflac by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,216,000 after buying an additional 67,650 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $404,639,000. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 22.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,268,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,555,000 after acquiring an additional 603,426 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Aflac from $137.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Aflac from $125.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 50,134,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 713,662 shares of company stock worth $83,323,978 over the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.5%

Aflac stock opened at $123.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $62.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.55. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $105.76 and a 1 year high of $130.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $116.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. Aflac’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.