Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 471.4% during the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AFL shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.15.

Insider Activity at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of Aflac 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 sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706. 0.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AFL traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $83.58. 1,838,831 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,273,162. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.75. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $64.10 and a 52-week high of $86.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.91.

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

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.