Hsbc Holdings PLC Has $117.19 Million Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,061,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,018 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $117,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Navalign LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $111.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aflac from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Evercore raised shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.27.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL opened at $115.50 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.21. 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 stock has a market cap of $58.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.61. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $119.81.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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

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 shares were sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,026,856 shares of company stock worth $118,318,678. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac 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.