Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires Shares of 121,800 Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 121,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,878,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 80.0% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.50.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $110.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.22. The stock has a market cap of $62.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $74.89 and a fifty-two week high of $111.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. Aflac’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is currently 22.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Company 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.