International Assets Investment Management LLC Has $541,000 Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 99.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,280 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 554,623 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Park National Corp OH raised its stake in Aflac by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 4,991 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic increased its holdings in Aflac by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 16,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,655,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Aflac by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 2,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,116 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 825.8% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 824 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $102.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm'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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 222,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Aflac Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of Aflac stock traded down $2.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $101.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,176,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,691,163. The stock has a market cap of $56.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. 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 52 week low of $75.07 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.82.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. This is an increase from Aflac's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac's payout ratio is 34.94%.

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.