Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Acquires New Shares in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 21,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 19,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 11,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 9,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp lifted its position in Aflac by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 2,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,641,978. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 782,428 shares of company stock valued at $88,097,875 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aflac from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays set a $99.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.82.

Aflac Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $117.74 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $119.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $112.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.11 and a quick ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.62.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 25.60%.The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 27.70%.

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.