Southeast Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 708 Shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the period. Aflac comprises 1.8% of Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $14,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Aflac by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 242,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,217,000 after purchasing an additional 24,173 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,213,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $125,519,000 after acquiring an additional 11,345 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 66,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,917,000 after acquiring an additional 12,796 shares in the last quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 3,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Aflac by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 140,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,514,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.29.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.29, for a total transaction of $3,197,456.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. The trade was a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total value of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Aflac Trading Down 8.8 %

Shares of AFL stock opened at $101.94 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $106.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $107.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.64 billion, a PE ratio of 10.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.10. Aflac Incorporated has a 1 year low of $79.31 and a 1 year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.07). Aflac had a return on equity of 16.20% and a net margin of 28.76%. As a group, research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 EPS for the current 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.