Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Decreases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,933 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 80.0% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.46.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.1 %

Aflac stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $94.77. The stock had a trading volume of 680,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,180,004. The company has a market capitalization of $53.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $89.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.23. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $95.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.08%.

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.