Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,245 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AFL. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 317,299 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,821,000 after purchasing an additional 11,176 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in Aflac by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 106,009 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,966,000 after buying an additional 4,678 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,701 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aflac by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,018 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,657,000 after acquiring an additional 2,071 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

AFL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $103.36.

Aflac Stock Performance

NYSE AFL traded up $0.68 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $110.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,357,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,923,103. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $106.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.62. The firm has a market cap of $60.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $79.31 and a 52 week high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,546 shares of company stock valued at $5,863,616 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Company 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.