Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 13,666 Shares of Aflac Incorporated $AFL

Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,926,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,666 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Aflac were worth $438,621,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Aflac by 10.4% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,731,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $193,407,000 after purchasing an additional 163,791 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Aflac by 3.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,768,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $196,662,000 after purchasing an additional 65,308 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 126.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 21,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 11,903 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 12.0% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 97,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,841,000 after purchasing an additional 10,423 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Aflac by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 55,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,146,000 after buying an additional 13,017 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, EVP Steven Kent Beaver sold 7,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.58, for a total value of $839,015.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 40,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,602,943.08. This trade represents a 15.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Post Holdings Co. Ltd. Japan sold 19,100 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.77, for a total transaction of $2,115,707.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 52,222,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,784,675,248. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 51,279 shares of company stock worth $5,697,789 in the last quarter. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 0.2%

Aflac stock opened at $110.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $111.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $96.95 and a twelve month high of $119.32. The company has a market capitalization of $56.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.66.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.12). Aflac had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 21.24%.The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.57 EPS. Aflac’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AFL shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $119.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Aflac in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $120.00 target price on Aflac in a report on Monday, December 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.73.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus) is a provider of supplemental insurance products designed to help policyholders manage out-of-pocket health care and living expenses. The company underwrites a range of individual and group policies that typically pay cash benefits directly to insureds when covered events occur, enabling greater financial flexibility for medical treatment, hospital stays, critical illness, and related costs. Aflac’s product mix includes supplemental health insurance, life insurance and other specialty coverages intended to complement primary medical plans.

Founded in the mid-20th century and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, Aflac distributes its products through a combination of employer-sponsored programs, independent brokers and agents, and direct marketing.