Cornerstone Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 25.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,600 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $2,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at $447,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Aflac by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $429,319,000 after buying an additional 285,576 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Aflac by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Aflac by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in Aflac by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 15,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AFL. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Aflac from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Three equities research 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, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total value of $197,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $110.17 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $101.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.24. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $74.89 and a twelve month high of $111.14. The stock has a market cap of $61.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a PEG 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for 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%. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued 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 1.82%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is 22.08%.

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.