Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 175,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,883 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Aflac were worth $15,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 25,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 24,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its holdings in Aflac by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in Aflac by 80.0% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.08.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock traded down $3.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.19. The stock had a trading volume of 857,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,224,771. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.79 billion, a PE ratio of 11.18, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $72.78 and a twelve month high of $104.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $90.55 and its 200 day moving average is $85.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.82% and a net margin of 28.35%. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.