Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Holdings Trimmed by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 150,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Aflac were worth $13,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,190,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $263,254,000 after acquiring an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $197,820,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Aflac by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,806,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,140,000 after buying an additional 113,226 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,577,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,129,000 after acquiring an additional 64,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,483,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,407,000 after acquiring an additional 46,642 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AFL. UBS Group lifted their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.69.

Aflac Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $108.09 on Tuesday. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $73.62 and a one year high of $108.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.42 billion, a PE ratio of 11.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Aflac’s payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.