Vise Technologies Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Vise Technologies Inc. increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 113.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,917 shares during the quarter. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Navalign LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the second quarter worth $33,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its stake in 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 period. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 100.0% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,723,100 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 925,446 shares of company stock worth $104,939,409 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on AFL shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Evercore raised Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays set a $99.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.27.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $118.37 on Friday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $96.95 and a 1-year high of $119.81. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $113.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.80. The company has a market capitalization of $60.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.61.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.80 by ($0.05). Aflac had a net margin of 25.60% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. Aflac’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.