Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Makes New Investment in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 24,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,896,000 after buying an additional 1,793 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 23,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,904,000 after buying an additional 5,474 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 349,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,862,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Busey Trust CO increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Busey Trust CO now owns 7,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE AFL opened at $83.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.11 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $64.10 and a 12 month high of $86.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.78.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.