3,451,076 Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,451,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $404,639,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Groupe la Francaise bought a new stake in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Aflac in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AFL. Weiss Ratings raised Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research began coverage on Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective (up from $130.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Monday, August 10th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.62.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.10, for a total transaction of $74,460.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 32,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,059,311. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 12,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.28, for a total value of $1,500,012.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 50,791,790 shares in the company, valued at $5,906,069,341.20. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 494,225 shares of company stock worth $57,960,715. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 1.7%

Aflac stock opened at $116.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $58.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $121.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.21. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $104.66 and a 52 week high of $130.22.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%.The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

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.