Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) Shares Purchased by IFG Advisory LLC

IFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $3,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Aflac in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Aflac during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aflac during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total transaction of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,825 shares in the company, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 value of $2,436,695.63. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 86,090 shares in the company, valued at $6,879,451.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.34, for a total value of $666,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 over the last three months. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.65. The stock had a trading volume of 335,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,246,581. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.91. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $62.95 and a 52 week high of $86.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.67. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AFL. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Aflac from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Aflac from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.36.

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.