CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 147 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

CENTRAL TRUST Co reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 113,226 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Aflac by 6.4% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,912 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in Aflac by 3.3% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 718,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,653,000 after purchasing an additional 22,637 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Aflac by 13.9% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 708,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,810,000 after purchasing an additional 86,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,535,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE AFL opened at $112.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced 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 return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The business had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AFL. Citigroup boosted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Aflac in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.53.

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.