Madison Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 317,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,821,000 after buying an additional 11,176 shares in the last quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 106,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,966,000 after buying an additional 4,678 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Aflac by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,657,000 after buying an additional 2,071 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles D. Lake II sold 29,802 shares of Aflac 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.63, for a total transaction of $107,630.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,546 shares of company stock worth $5,863,616 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Down 0.6 %

AFL opened at $108.10 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $105.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.10 and a quick ratio of 0.08. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $79.31 and a one year high of $115.50.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.56 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Aflac from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Aflac from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aflac currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.36.

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.