Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 373 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Aflac by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,340,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,310,640,000 after buying an additional 653,275 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,226,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,768,000 after acquiring an additional 47,119 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Aflac by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,753,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,683 shares in the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in Aflac by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,395,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,682,000 after purchasing an additional 118,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Aflac by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,616,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $167,239,000 after purchasing an additional 32,220 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AFL has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

Aflac Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AFL opened at $112.44 on Wednesday. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $79.31 and a 1 year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $106.71 and a 200 day moving average of $107.71. The stock has a market cap of $61.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its 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 net margin of 28.76% and a return on equity of 16.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.