Xponance Inc. Acquires 428 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $6,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Aflac during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Aflac by 471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other news, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $2,436,695.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,735,635.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Masatoshi Koide sold 30,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 86,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,879,451.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,493 shares of company stock valued at $3,765,706 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of AFL opened at $83.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.06 and a quick ratio of 0.06. Aflac Incorporated has a 1-year low of $64.10 and a 1-year high of $86.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $82.21 and a 200 day moving average of $81.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 business posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

About Aflac

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.