Bangor Savings Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 34.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 277 shares during the quarter. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in Aflac were worth $121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 113,226 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Aflac by 6.4% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 98,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,800,000 after buying an additional 5,912 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in Aflac by 3.3% in 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 buying an additional 22,637 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Aflac by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 708,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,810,000 after acquiring an additional 86,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,535,000. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of Aflac 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 sale, the director now owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.43.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $112.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $75.07 and a twelve month high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $106.77 and a 200 day moving average of $94.19.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.10 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 28.35%. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

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 $0.50 dividend. 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 1.78%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.08%.

About Aflac

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.