Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Acquired by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 76,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AFL. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Aflac by 36.2% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 6,369 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Aflac by 6.8% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 0.7% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 210,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,503 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth $428,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Aflac by 7.3% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL stock opened at $83.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.50. The firm has a market cap of $47.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $64.10 and a 1 year high of $86.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a current ratio of 0.06.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. Analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AFL. Raymond James upped their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com cut Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.15.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Arthur Reginald Collins sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $239,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,592 shares in the company, valued at $445,850.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.