Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Has $53.30 Million Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 483,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 71,955 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Aflac were worth $53,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 348.3% in the fourth quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 55,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,145,000 after purchasing an additional 43,293 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 10.4% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,731,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $193,407,000 after purchasing an additional 163,791 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 126.1% in the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 21,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,384,000 after purchasing an additional 11,903 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,866,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,712,000 after purchasing an additional 97,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 12.0% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 97,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,841,000 after purchasing an additional 10,423 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $116.00 to $114.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho set a $102.00 price target on shares of Aflac and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Two research 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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 firm has a market cap of $59.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $111.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $110.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.32.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 14.35%. Aflac’s revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 166,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $18,655,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,723,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,641,978. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.