Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.66 Million Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 32,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,656,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $175,416,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 62.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,936,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897,212 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Aflac by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,812,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $634,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640,984 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,249,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Aflac by 67.3% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,712,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after acquiring an additional 689,173 shares during the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $80.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $81.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued 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 net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company 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 earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on AFL. UBS Group upped their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI cut Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $2,436,695.63. Following the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last quarter. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.