Certuity LLC Buys Shares of 2,843 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Certuity LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Aflac by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,160,465,000 after acquiring an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Aflac by 9.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Aflac by 5.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,953,000 after buying an additional 368,704 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Aflac by 5.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,808,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $369,036,000 after buying an additional 227,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 2.3% in the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,236,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $171,659,000 after buying an additional 49,479 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI downgraded Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

Aflac Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $84.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $64.10 and a 52 week high of $86.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 25.81%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Company Profile

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.