Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Grows Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the 4th quarter worth about $1,558,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,693,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,676,000 after buying an additional 348,400 shares in the last quarter. G&S Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 31,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after buying an additional 12,551 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in Aflac by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 376,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,786,000 after acquiring an additional 26,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Aflac by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 48,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 5,477 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aflac Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $83.23 on Friday. 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 $82.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.50. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $47.89 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.91.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.47 by ($0.22). Aflac had a net margin of 24.92% and a return on equity of 17.59%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,516,390.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Aflac news, SVP Albert Riggieri sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 32,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,735,635.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Kenny sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.62, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,493 shares of company stock worth $3,765,706 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Aflac from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Aflac from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Aflac from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Aflac from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.15.

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.