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

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC raised 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 & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 708 shares during the quarter. Aflac comprises 1.8% of Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s investment 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 hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AFL. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Aflac by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 242,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,217,000 after purchasing an additional 24,173 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,213,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $125,519,000 after purchasing an additional 11,345 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA raised its position in shares of Aflac by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 66,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,917,000 after buying an additional 12,796 shares during the last quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 3,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in Aflac by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 140,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,514,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 25,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,733,048.59. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,360,422.98. This represents a 37.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AFL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on 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 raised their target price on Aflac from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Aflac from $94.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Aflac from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Aflac in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $111.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aflac currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.29.

Aflac Trading Down 8.8 %

NYSE AFL opened at $101.94 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.62, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.81. Aflac Incorporated has a 52 week low of $79.31 and a 52 week high of $115.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $106.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.69. 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 (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts anticipate that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.