Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 414 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 90,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $7,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 80.0% in the 1st quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 600 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,550 shares in the company, valued at $2,337,342. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of Aflac 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AFL traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $94.82. 1,146,715 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,190,487. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.68 and a 200-day moving average of $85.10. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $95.49.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.44 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is a boost from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 21st. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.