Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 9.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 258,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,138 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Aflac were worth $22,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price 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. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. 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. According to MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.46.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL traded down $0.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $94.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 788,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,180,751. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.23. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $95.49. The company has a market cap of $53.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase 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 news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 22,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 61,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,381,329.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 27,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,342. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.