Czech National Bank Buys 4,139 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,139 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Aflac were worth $11,479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 80.0% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.94, for a total transaction of $197,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,552.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Aflac from $84.00 to $83.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Aflac from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on Aflac from $84.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.43.

Aflac Trading Up 1.5 %

Aflac stock traded up $1.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $115.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,717,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,255,626. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market cap of $65.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $106.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.88. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $75.07 and a 12 month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 28.35% and a return on equity of 16.22%. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.75 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Aflac’s 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.