Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $13.74 Million Stake in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 124,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,503 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $13,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in Aflac by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its position in Aflac by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 9,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC grew its position in Aflac by 3.9% during the third quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 2,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp grew its position in Aflac by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 2,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group reduced their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays set a $99.00 price target on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Aflac from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.36.

Aflac Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of AFL opened at $112.98 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $96.95 and a 52 week high of $119.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $111.42 and a 200-day moving average of $110.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.70%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 572,875 shares of company stock valued at $63,542,458. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.