Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,427,628 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 36,501 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.26% of Aflac worth $147,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
AFL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $103.93.
View Our Latest Stock Report on AFL
Aflac Stock Performance
Shares of Aflac stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $107.35. 2,294,639 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,143,134. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $80.11 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.18, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81.
Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac
In related news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Aflac
(
Free Report)
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.
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