175,634 Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Bought by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 24.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 888,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 175,634 shares during the period. Aflac accounts for approximately 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $99,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth about $29,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on AFL shares. Bank of America decreased their target price on Aflac from $137.00 to $133.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Aflac from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Aflac from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $119.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 113,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $13,466,311.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 50,134,329 shares in the company, valued at $5,942,422,016.37. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 713,662 shares of company stock worth $83,323,978 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Down 0.1%

AFL opened at $120.12 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.47. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $105.43 and a 52 week high of $130.22. The company has a market capitalization of $60.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.01). Aflac had a net margin of 26.91% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $4.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.15%.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) is an insurance company specializing in supplemental health and life insurance. Through its policies, the company helps individuals and families manage expenses that may not be fully covered by major medical insurance, including deductibles, copayments and other out-of-pocket costs.

Aflac offers products such as accident, cancer, critical illness, hospital indemnity, dental and vision, disability, life and long-term care insurance. Many of its supplemental policies provide cash benefits directly to policyholders, who can generally use the funds according to their individual needs.