Aflac (NYSE:AFL) Director Miwako Hosoda Sells 243 Shares of Stock

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Director Miwako Hosoda sold 243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.50, for a total transaction of $27,823.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $886,573.50. The trade was a 3.04% 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.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $113.55 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market capitalization of $58.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $111.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.96.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aflac

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlTi Global Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac by 105.8% in the first quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 7,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 4,006 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,550,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,216,000 after buying an additional 67,650 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 1.3% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 10,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Decker Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the first quarter worth approximately $323,000. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in Aflac in the first quarter worth approximately $11,691,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AFL. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Aflac from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.36.

About Aflac

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.