Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 5,509 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co trimmed its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 149,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,509 shares during the quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Aflac were worth $13,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Aflac by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp boosted its position in Aflac by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 6,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $883,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP raised its position in shares of Aflac by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 5,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AFL. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.50.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $108.89 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $99.12 and a 200-day moving average of $90.04. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $73.79 and a 1-year high of $111.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $61.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by 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.