Contravisory Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 96,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,418 shares during the period. Aflac comprises 1.8% of Contravisory Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at $197,820,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Aflac by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aflac by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after purchasing an additional 605,210 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aflac by 8,861.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 449,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,113,000 after purchasing an additional 444,829 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Aflac by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,953,000 after purchasing an additional 368,704 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.38.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of Aflac stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.67. The stock had a trading volume of 5,577,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,890,366. The firm has a market cap of $50.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.96. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $66.91 and a 12 month high of $90.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $86.17 and its 200 day moving average is $83.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. Aflac’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.08%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total value of $50,904.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.84, for a total transaction of $50,904.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total transaction of $1,957,403.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,381,329.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.