Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $7.52 Million Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 62.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 84,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 138,994 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 86,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,096,000 after buying an additional 15,855 shares during the period. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors Inc. now owns 139,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,481,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Aflac by 6.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,806,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,140,000 after acquiring an additional 113,226 shares in the last quarter. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $12,546,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Aflac by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 633,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,262,000 after purchasing an additional 44,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $109.12 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $103.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $74.89 and a one year high of $111.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10.

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

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AFL. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.50.

About Aflac

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.