Tidal Investments LLC Sells 49,134 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Tidal Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 76.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 49,134 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Barclays PLC increased its position in Aflac by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,529,000 after acquiring an additional 127,911 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 16,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,731,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Aflac by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 70,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,496,045.28. This represents a 34.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 2,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.70, for a total value of $290,675.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,149.60. The trade was a 29.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,552 shares of company stock worth $7,609,382 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $102.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $86.46 and a fifty-two week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. The business’s revenue was down 37.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 36.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Aflac from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.57.

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.