Sei Investments Co. Reduces Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Sei Investments Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,488 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $24,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its stake in Aflac by 80.0% during the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Aflac in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Aflac in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth about $50,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Aflac Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE AFL opened at $109.12 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $74.89 and a 52-week high of $111.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $103.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

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

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.