Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,242 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Aflac were worth $18,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Spinnaker Trust boosted its holdings in Aflac by 2.7% in the third quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Aflac by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Aflac by 41.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.86.

Aflac Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $104.08 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $57.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.99. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $78.62 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.43.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.17%.

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.