Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Raises Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 696,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,592 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Aflac were worth $57,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,208,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,160,465,000 after buying an additional 605,210 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Aflac by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,643,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $740,141,000 after purchasing an additional 794,784 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Aflac by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,295,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,953,000 after purchasing an additional 368,704 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Aflac by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,808,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $369,036,000 after purchasing an additional 227,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its stake in Aflac by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,236,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $171,659,000 after purchasing an additional 49,479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Aflac stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $83.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,849,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,278,591. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $82.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.70. The company has a market capitalization of $48.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AFL. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Aflac from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total value of $423,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706. 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.