Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Acquires Shares of 1,560,626 Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,560,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $182,983,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec owned approximately 0.31% of Aflac at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 64.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,708 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the second quarter valued at approximately $280,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 150,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,854,000 after purchasing an additional 15,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 11,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $117.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.21. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $104.66 and a 52 week high of $130.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.60.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $4.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.11 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 26.91%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 63,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $7,441,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,169,435 shares in the company, valued at $6,044,133,662.20. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 498,625 shares of company stock valued at $58,523,683 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (up from $101.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Aflac from $117.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $124.00 price target (up from $114.00) on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.62.

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.