Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Stake in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 306,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,527 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Aflac were worth $33,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Navalign LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Aflac by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AFL. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Barclays set a $99.00 price target on Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore raised Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.27.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were 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 approximately $5,812,641,978. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,062,871 shares of company stock worth $122,790,124. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $117.22 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $116.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.69. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $120.29. The company has a market cap of $59.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.70%.

Aflac Company 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.