Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Sells 145 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lowered its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,489 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Aflac in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac during the second quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 178.6% in the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $112.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $63.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $109.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.37. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. 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 announced 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. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.76 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.