Kanawha Capital Management LLC Buys 70,619 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Kanawha Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1,188.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 70,619 shares during the quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 1,184.5% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,264,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,199,000 after buying an additional 1,165,676 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 132.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,227,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $137,078,000 after acquiring an additional 699,080 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 180.5% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 252,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,320,000 after acquiring an additional 565,884 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in Aflac by 402.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 653,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,035,000 after acquiring an additional 523,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Aflac by 7.6% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,414,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,047,000 after purchasing an additional 310,220 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.38, for a total value of $18,655,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 572,632 shares of company stock worth $63,514,634 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AFL. Mizuho set a $102.00 price objective on Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Barclays set a $101.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $119.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Evercore raised shares of Aflac from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Aflac to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.82.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $114.76 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $96.95 and a 1 year high of $119.32. The stock has a market cap of $59.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $111.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.70.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 21.24%.Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.57 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.