Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Bought by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 27.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,296 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aflac by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,142,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,301,056,000 after buying an additional 6,759,169 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Aflac by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,047,000 after buying an additional 310,220 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Aflac by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,926,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $438,621,000 after buying an additional 13,666 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Aflac by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 2,631,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $297,583,000 after buying an additional 261,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Aflac by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,866,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,712,000 after buying an additional 97,766 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on Aflac in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Evercore upgraded Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.36.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $112.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $57.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.96. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $119.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,641,978. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 572,875 shares of company stock worth $63,542,458. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.