Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 11,176 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 317,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,176 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.06% of Aflac worth $32,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 7,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 6,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. TKG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. TKG Advisors LLC now owns 21,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AFL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays cut 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

Aflac Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE:AFL opened at $107.44 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $105.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.69. Aflac Incorporated has a 12 month low of $79.31 and a 12 month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $58.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 in the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Company 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.