Vision Capital Management Inc. Acquires 266 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Vision Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the quarter. Vision Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $255,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Aflac by 6.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,694,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,846,000 after acquiring an additional 281,148 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in Aflac by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,682,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in Aflac by 8.9% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,662,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,869,000 after buying an additional 136,238 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Aflac by 0.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,584,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $177,153,000 after buying an additional 10,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Aflac by 10.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,391,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $155,529,000 after buying an additional 127,911 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were 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 owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AFL. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.71.

Aflac Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $107.33 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.69 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a market cap of $59.62 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.99.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its 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 return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.12%.

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.