Summit Financial LLC Increases Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $1,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 776,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,533,000 after purchasing an additional 333,083 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac during the 4th quarter worth approximately $948,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac by 4.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,202,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,395,000 after acquiring an additional 45,745 shares during the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 273,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,287,000 after acquiring an additional 3,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Aflac in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,014,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Aflac from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,733,048.59. This represents a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aflac Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AFL opened at $112.44 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.71. Aflac Incorporated has a 12-month low of $79.31 and a 12-month high of $115.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $61.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93.

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