Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 653,275 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 653,275 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Aflac worth $5,310,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $13,060,000. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $6,778,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $30,791,000. Finally, Forefront Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total transaction of $2,558,529.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.36.

Aflac Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $108.10 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $79.31 and a 12-month high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current 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.