Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,428,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 58,381 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $159,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Compound Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.7% during the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 13,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,508,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 7,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 7,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Aflac by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 17,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,987,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE AFL opened at $123.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.81. The firm has a market cap of $62.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $105.48 and a one year high of $130.22.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. Aflac’s payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the sale, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,942,422,016.37. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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. Insiders sold 713,662 shares of company stock worth $83,323,978 in the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating and set a $101.00 price target (up from $99.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Aflac from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.20.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.