Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stake in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,072,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,262 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $118,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 95.6% in the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 100.0% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac in the third quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Aflac from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.36.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 86,155 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.24, for a total transaction of $9,756,192.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,636,945 shares in the company, valued at $5,847,367,651.80. This represents a 0.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 572,632 shares of company stock worth $63,514,634 over the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $113.48 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $58.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.62. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $119.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.92.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

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.