Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Raises Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 824,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,455 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.15% of Aflac worth $85,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AFL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Aflac in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.93.

Aflac Price Performance

NYSE:AFL opened at $107.96 on Monday. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $80.59 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The firm has a market cap of $58.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $107.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced 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 net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. Research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

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.