Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AFL. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 53,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,443,000 after purchasing an additional 5,110 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Aflac by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 84,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,985,000 after purchasing an additional 10,973 shares during the period. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 526,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,397,000 after purchasing an additional 5,031 shares during the period. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aflac by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 93,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,717,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of AFL opened at $83.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $48.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.44 billion. Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Aflac

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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Aflac news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value 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. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 over the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

Aflac Profile

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.